Dark Fall 2: The Devil's Harbinger
by ATGS
Summary: Zack's wife Maya stormed out one night after a fight and vanished without a trace. His search leads him to a bizarre little town out in the middle of nowhere that's not on any map. He's also been having unusual dreams, of a strange lighthouse out in the ocean, beckoning something demonic from the skies... what of the strange, abandoned lighthouse in this town?
1. Prologue

**Dark Fall II**

_Disclaimer: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and all related characters are copyright Disney Channel. This story is a work of fan appreciation, for entertainment, and for writing practice. No profit is being made off this work in any way, shape, or form. The story in this fanfiction is a very loose adaption of the story of the point and click adventure video game Dark Fall II: Lights Out created by Jonathan Boakes. The game's plot is only barely followed as a template, about 90% of the story actually does come from my own imagination. The game Dark Fall II is copyright Jonathan Boakes. Consider looking up the original video game (for the PC) and supporting his work._

Author's Preface: Yes, I am very aware it's been years since I finished the original, which I left off well intending to write a sequel. I do not know if any of the people who read the original will read this one or even be interested by this point.

For myself, I really did intend to finish this story, but life got too much in the way. I never stopped writing. I simply started self-publishing and pushing my original fiction, which took up the bulk of my writing time. It was an unexpected direction shift in my life. And it seemed I had let too much time elapse so that anyone interested in reading the sequel would have lost interest. Plus, quite frankly, I lost interest in the Suite Life fandom completely.

But the story I wrote (Dark Fall) is still notable because of all the writing I've ever dabbled in, it was my first completed full length story ever. I don't consider it my best work, mostly because I was so raw and unpracticed, especially concerning dialogue. I've tried to revise it somewhat since. But a lot of people seemed to like it anyways. It also proved to me for the first time that I could start a large story, complete it, and not do half-bad.

But it has always bugged me that I never truly finished it. And though my SL fandom has long since passed, and none of the people who read the original might read this one, I decided to finish it and see what happens. Just for fun.

If you have not read the original, you will want to do so to be able to understand this one better. It's very much a sequel and picks up where the last one left off, and concludes this particular story arc.

**Prologue**

(1)

Walking alongside the interstate out in the countryside of Massachusetts just as the sun was beginning to set on a cool autumn day was a young boy.

It had been days since he'd eaten or slept. He'd been walking for a very long time, but he retained a constant energy and didn't slow down nor stop for anything.

If you would have happened to have been driving on the road of which he was walking on the side of, you would have not seen him.

Indeed, every now and then, a car would pass by and completely ignore the sight of the roughly 10 year old looking boy who was walking at a steady pace in the middle of nowhere. He'd even walked through several densely populated areas, including several major cities and a good number of small towns, but he had been completely invisible to the surrounding people.

If he would have been seen, those around him or passing by him would have been taken aback in shock. His appearance was not something you could just simply ignore.

It was mostly the fact that he was splattered in blood. He was dressed in a black suit, which, despite being covered with blood, was still neat and pressed. Only his black hair was in a minor state of dishevel. There was some blood in it, too. The blood was the most noticeable on his face and also on the exposed part of the white button down shirt he was wearing underneath the suit.

In his right hand, he was gripping a dagger. The blade was covered in dried blood. It was not a normal looking dagger. The dagger had a unique curving shape to it, and the handle was gold and inlaid with all sorts of jewels.

The boy's green eyes were piercing and determined. If you were to look straight into them, you'd almost swear there was nothing there. But if you were to look more deeply, perhaps, you'd possibly swear that you _could _see something, something far more horrifying than the spectacle presently before you at first sight. Not the boy in there. Something else.

Perhaps if you saw the boy your first inclination would be to freak out and try to get help, but then you'd look into those eyes and suddenly you'd have the strange urge to leave him alone and get as far away as possible.

The boy walked. It was a beautiful autumn day. A little hot, but not too much. A nice, strong wind was blowing steadily. To the boy, though, temperature didn't matter. The boy couldn't feel it. It could be during the hottest part of summer or in the middle of a blizzard right now and he wouldn't have felt a thing nor given any indication of even noticing it.

On both sides of the highway, the countryside stretched out around him. There was a farm off in the distance, but the boy didn't turn his head nor admire the scenery at all. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the previous blue in the sky was taking on a golden tint as the sun was setting. In only a few hours it would be nightfall.

Not that it mattered. The boy would keep on walking.

He would come to pass through many more towns and walk yet an even greater distance. But nobody would notice him nor try to stop him at any length of his journey.

He was invisible to the world.

(2)

The boy had to walk through an extremely long stretch of countryside and through a long dirt road in the middle of a heavily wooded area before he finally came to a town where people were able to see him.

It was early in the morning, and as if to portend the things that were to happen that day, everything was covered in a very thick, dense fog. At first, it seemed as if the town was deserted. The boy walked up the middle of the road toward the town center, and for the first time, stopped and stood dead still.

A few minutes passed. Then, one by one, the people started coming, out of the buildings, out of their homes, out from everywhere. The entire town turned out and began to surround the boy on the road.

There was an old man who came walking up the center of the road, and the people parted to make way for him. When the old man came fully into the center and stood facing the boy, all the people formed a circle and stood around the man and the boy.

The old man looked down at the boy. Their eyes made contact. The old man was solemn. He leaned down, took the boy's head in his hands, and kissed his forehead gently and with reverence. Then he leaned toward the boy's right ear and said softly, "It's time."

Fast as lightning, the boy took the dagger he was holding and plunged it into the old man's chest near the heart.

The people of the town did not move, do, nor say anything while the horrifying spectacle before them was taking place. The boy was cutting, as the man's body was going limp and writhing on top of him. The older man's weight, however, didn't faze the boy at all.

The old man fell to the ground, lifeless, crumpled up, with blood pooling around his body, as the boy lifted his other hand up and held the old man's heart high in the air.

As soon as he did this, the people circling the boy prostrated around him in extreme reverence, and, kneeling down, began to worship him.

The puddle of blood coming out of the old man's body was beginning to pool around the boy's feet, and it seemed as if the blood was strangely being drawn towards the boy.

Something in the boy's eyes shifted.

(3)

A number of years later, on an otherwise uneventful spring day in Los Angeles on an overcast day, a sandy, blond haired man leaned over the edge of the bridge overlooking the waters below.

He noted to himself that it seemed like a storm was probably coming later. As the wind blew and he watched the ripples of the water below, he felt his assessment was probably right. It hadn't rained in several months, and LA was due for some spring showers.

He felt the weather was appropriate. The way he felt right now, clear blue skies and sunny weather would have felt sacrilegious.

He felt if he were inclined to suicide, it might be preferable to just take a nice jump off the edge. But then again, this wasn't the Golden Gate Bridge, and the water below wasn't that far down. At best, he'd probably simply make an ass out of himself and get wet.

But he wasn't inclined to suicide anyway. That was what made it so hard. Continuing to live day to day knowing there was no way out and he just had to deal with it.

He wanted to cry. But he couldn't. He needed to compose himself the best he could while he was in public.

He leaned his head down and closed his eyes. Images filled his mind, images of happier times, before finally an image of a not so happy time. Something that happened that should not have happened. A mistake. And then...

He was tugging on his wedding band again. It had become a nervous twitch of his. Ever since that day.

A thought crossed his head. It was not a good thought. If he had been thinking rationally, he might not have given heed to it. But he was not thinking rationally. He was hurting. He was broken on the inside.

His battle was a conflict of what he felt was the truth versus the hope he really wanted to hold onto.

But how much longer would he have to go on hoping? He knew it was very likely that hope had long since passed. And when the truth inevitably showed up on his doorstep, uttering those words that he did not want to hear, what would he do then?

It was over, he was certain. He'd had the best thing he could have ever hoped for in his pathetic life. The best thing ever, and he'd let it slip away. It was all his fault.

He didn't want to live with it anymore. If he was to be the cause, the one that had brought everything good he'd ever had to a crashing halt, then he wanted to punish himself further, separate himself from everything that reminded him of it for good.

At least, that's the way he was thinking. Because when you are hurting in the way he was hurting at this very moment, you just don't think rationally.

And so he did something he would regret the very second after he did it and for days to come. With the first signs of tears tempting themselves at his tear ducts, his face contorted to a grimace of rage as he found himself slipping the ring off his finger, and then, with as strong of a throw as he could muster, hurling it into the air into the water below.

Luckily, no one was currently passing by on the bridge to witness his sudden outburst of poor judgment, not that the blonde haired man would have cared anyway. The moment the ring left his hand he'd regretted it instantly. He wanted to reach out, grasp it, put it back on his finger, and never let it leave his sight again.

But it was too late now. The ring went sailing through the air, far out of reach, and landed in the water below with a soft _plunk_. There would be no getting it back now. Never again. He'd made his hasty decision, and it was too late to take it back.

He felt instantly horrified. What the hell had he just done? He felt a sinking feeling of revulsion in his stomach towards himself. He suddenly felt like maybe he _should _just try to jump over and end himself for doing something so stupid.

Disgusted with himself, and feeling himself losing control of his emotions by the second, he turned and began to leave the bridge walking at a fast pace.

(4)

He walked through the streets of LA, maneuvering deftly. His home was only several blocks away, but that's not where he was going. He wasn't going anywhere in particular. He couldn't go home. Going home would hurt. He just wanted to walk. He still hadn't cried yet. But he wasn't going to break down here.

The sights and sounds of the city surrounded him, but he paid no heed to it. No one else paid any attention to him either, except for a few drivers who honked at him for jaywalking. Not that he cared. He was too mentally far gone to care about anything right now.

He came to the local park and walked through it. The sounds of kids playing nearby did nothing to him. He passed a guy who was walking his dog. Looked like a golden retriever. The blonde haired man didn't look up and make eye contact with the guy walking the dog, even though under normal circumstances he would have been the first to give a friendly greeting.

He looked over and saw a young couple making out on a park bench. He watched out of the corner of his eye but did not stop walking. The sight of it stung him deep inside. He felt himself beginning to lose it. He continued on his path. He knew where he was going.

There was a public restroom in the center of the park with bushes surrounding it in such a way that if you went behind it and knelt down you wouldn't be seen. A lot of kids snuck down here at night to have sex. He was here in the middle of the afternoon to cry.

He sat down and leaned against the wall, taking his head in his hand as his body began to give way to heaving sobs and the tears started streaming down his face in a flood.

These were not the first tears the man had cried and they would not be the last.

After a while, the man couldn't tell how long as time had no relevance in his world anymore, the tears abated for the time being and he sat, unmoving.

Many thoughts passed through his head, but they were mostly a haze. He felt too weak now to let them overpower him again. They no doubt would later this evening, though.

Eventually he came to the conclusion that being here, in LA, at this point in time, was just not doing him any good. He needed to get away. Nowhere in particular. Just anywhere but here where he was surrounded by all the memories.

He could afford to go anywhere he wanted. He had the money. He had no obligation to his job. Well, he _did_, since he was the CEO after all. But Lenny had things well under control, and he was just not at all into it right now.

Nobody at the club really minded that he hadn't been seen around much in the last few months. They understood. They were all worried about him. He was very well liked by everyone. But everyone also knew to give him his space. He was still basically grieving, even though he hadn't gotten the final confirmation yet.

But he needed to get away. Not just anywhere. Going just anywhere in the world would have no luster for him. He wasn't going on a pleasure trip. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed someone he hadn't talked to in several months, now finding himself suddenly regretting the length of time it had been since talking to this person, though it hadn't really been _that _long ago.

The number rang six times and then finally went to voicemail.

_"You have reached the personal cell of Dr. Cody Martin. Sorry I'm not able to take your call right now. Please leave a message and I'll get back with you as soon as possible. Thanks!"_

The man sighed.

"Hey, it's Zack. Why don't you ever answer this damn thing? Listen, umm, I'm thinking I might be coming up to New York for a while this weekend. You want to get together and connect for a while? It's been awhile since we last talked. Call me back when you can. Talk to you soon. Bye."

He hung up the phone and pocketed it. He sat there for a few more minutes, then got up and started heading home.


	2. Missing

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 1: Missing**

(1)

The pub was packed, but the noise level was tolerable enough so that the two occupants of the table roughly in the center of the bar could hear each other talk. The smell of smoke lingered in the air, as was expected of all such places, although neither man personally was a smoker.

On Cody's side of the table half his food was already gone although he had only gotten through half his beer. Zack had barely touched his food but was almost at the bottom of his beer and about ready to move onto the second.

Cody was talking. Zack was listening intently as he could, though his internal feelings and the constant ache inside him were making it hard to stay focused.

"...but the second half of the dream _really_ takes the cake." Cody was saying. "I was in one of the rooms of the Tipton, but the walls and ceiling were all weird. There was this strange, glowing writing all over the place. I can't remember what any of it said, but I remember that London was really upset, and then all of a sudden I'm pulling her into an embrace and lip locking with her..."

Zack was taking a first swig of his second glass of beer and nearly spit it out.

"Whoa. Holy crap, dude. Is Bailey not quite doing it for you nowadays or something? Now you've got a fetish for London?"

Cody's face turned red and his tone of voice got really elevated.

"I do not! I woke up feeling incredibly dirty!"

"Aww, did you have to take a cold shower to make yourself feel better?" Zack teased him, trying to hold back the laughter that almost made him feel better for once in this day. 

"I took a hot shower! With my WIFE! I made love to her twice!" Cody retorted.

"You DID make sure to scream the right name, right?" Zack had an amused look on his face.

"Of course!" Cody said matter-of-factly. "Bailey's the only woman I could ever think about being with!"

"Clearly." Zack said sarcastically, taking another swig of beer.

"It's very strange, though," Cody said, leaning on his hand and looking at the table with a bemused expression. "This isn't the first time I've ever had this dream. I mean, last night was a first, and by that I mean it was the first one where I ever… locked lips with London…" Cody had a disgusted look on his face. "Ever since over a year ago, I've been having this strange dream off and on. It's always of me and London inside the Tipton. Nobody else is there, the place has apparently been abandoned, and everything is all wrong in various different ways. And there's always something after us... something dark. At first I discounted these dreams and didn't think about them too much. But when I started noticing it was a recurring dream, I started paying more attention."

Zack shrugged. "You're the doctor. Isn't there some sort of weird psychological thing behind dreams like that?"

Cody shook his head.

"It's possible. In some cases, yes, but no one still knows yet exactly what dreams are or what causes them. They may not even be just one thing. They may be a number of things. I did notice one other thing, though, that's a bit unusual about it. These dreams started shortly after that day I found myself in Boston and don't really remember going there."

Zack looked at him curiously. "When was this? I don't remember you telling me about that."

"Well, you remember when I mentioned visiting Boston on a business trip and having dinner with Moseby and Emma a few months back?"

"Yeah! Moseby had a son! There's no way I would forget that!"

Cody leaned in closer to Zack.

"Well, the truth is, I wasn't actually there on a business trip. I don't know how I got there! I could have sworn I went to bed that night at my home here in New York. But everything about that night seems fuzzy. I don't actually remember ANYTHING about what happened in between going to bed up till the afternoon of the next day. I just know that, for no apparent reason, I suddenly came to and found myself standing in the middle of the Tipton lobby without a shirt."

Zack cocked his head. "Without a shirt?"

"Yeah. When Moseby came up and asked me what I was doing there in the lobby without a shirt, I didn't know what to say to him!"

Zack looked confounded. "Oh, wow. Dude, did somebody slip you a roofie the previous night or something?"

"I don't know! I have no idea what happened whatsoever! Actually, the thing that frightens me even more is that even though I swear I remember going to bed in my own house, Bailey swears I never came home that night! She had been flipping out, calling the police and everything. Something else that's really weird, she had been calling my phone and leaving messages, but I had no voice mails on my phone from before the time I found myself in the lobby! The first one that came to my phone was from yours. Meanwhile, I was so absorbed in the shock of where I was and trying to get my bearings that I totally forgot to call Bailey and check in with her..."

Zack started laughing again. "Holy crap, dude. Were you in the doghouse or what?"

"I didn't know what to say to her! She accused me of cheating! ME!" Cody, said, pointing at his chest with both fingers emphatically.

"Well, you _have_ been having those dreams about London. And you WERE in the Tipton lobby WITHOUT a shirt. Maybe you and London hooked up while you were "out of it," and, well…" Zack winked.

"FIRST of all, it was only ONE dream!" Cody said with a strong note of agitation. "SECOND, London wasn't even in Boston that day!"

"But you have to say it still seems pretty suspicious."

"I really don't know what I did that night. I really don't. It scares me what I may have done that I can't remember! If I ever found out I cheated on Bailey, or even hurt someone in my stupor, I'd never be able to live with myself, whether I had been drugged during the incident or not."

"So, you think you really were drugged?"

"I don't know!" Cody said exasperatedly again. "It just makes no sense! But something else was weird. Despite the bizarreness of it all, I had this strange sense of peace the entire day."

"After effect, maybe?"

"I ran some tests on myself when I got back. There weren't any traces of anything unusual in my bloodstream."

"I guess it's just one of the great mysteries of life." Zack said.

"I guess. I just really hope I didn't…"

"Dude. I don't think you'd ever really do something like that. Drugged or not drugged." Zack said, touching his arm in reassurance. "You're a lot better than that. I just don't see you doing something like that even if you were whacked out of your mind."

"Perhaps." Cody said, looking down at the table and sighing.

Zack and Cody continued talking awhile. Zack finally touched his food a bit. Zack felt a little better. Being here with Cody felt like the good old days. He made a mental note to increase the rate in which he connected with his brother on a regular basis.

Cody's face eventually turned serious, and he brought up the question he'd been wanting to ask but wanted to tread carefully around.

"So, Zack, how are you holding up? You know..."

Cody could see the look on Zack's face and instantly regretted asking it. But he also felt obligated to ask it. He knew it wasn't just out of pure randomness that Zack wanted to fly all across the nation just to hang out. Cody could only imagine what Zack was feeling inside. He felt like an asshole for bringing it up, but he knew he would be an even bigger asshole if he didn't. He felt pain for Zack. Cody could only imagine what would happen to himself if he lost Bailey.

Zack sighed and put his head in his hand. "I'm... I'm not doing well. I thought I could throw myself into my work and not have to deal with it so much, but everything reminds me of her. The pain gets so strong sometimes I feel completely paralyzed. I just sit in my office or elsewhere completely spaced out and can't do anything. But I can't just stay at home, either, because everything there reminds me even more of her. I'm thinking of getting another place, but I also keep thinking, what if they do find her? What if all this were to be resolved tomorrow? I know I'm not thinking very rationally, but..."

"It's okay, man." Cody said reassuringly. "I can't even begin to imagine what you must be going through. I mean, when Bailey and I broke up in Paris, that was the toughest time of my life. But she was still around..."

Cody knew he should probably shut up. Zack didn't seem to care, though.

"I expect them more realistically to show up on my doorstep. The police, I mean. I expect to open the door, see them there, and they tell me they've found her car and body somewhere... and..."

He tried to repress his tears. He couldn't. He put his head in the palm of his hand and started shaking with his sobs. Cody felt helpless as he sat there and watched. His heart was absolutely breaking for his brother.

"I didn't mean it! I didn't mean any of the things I said to her! I was just angry! I don't even remember what we were arguing about. If only I had just given up and let her win! I made her leave! I did it! I'm the reason she walked out that door and took that plane trip across the country to her mother's. If I hadn't of made her do that..." he stopped for a second to try and regain control. Then he started speaking softly and slowly. "…I tried to call her the next day. But she wouldn't answer me. I was going to fly up there after her. I was going to show up at her mother's house with an entire florist and beg for her forgiveness!" Zack could feel himself starting to lose control again. "I… I was going to make it up to her! I've always loved her! More than anything in the world! Ever since she came into my life, I've never touched another woman! Ever! And I could have had any woman I wanted!" Zack was really struggling to not completely collapse into a mess at this very moment. "…even when she was away in the Peace Corps I never touched another woman! She was the only woman I ever wanted in my life! I wanted to grow old with her! Have kids! I..."

He buried his head in his arms. Cody reached over and touched him.

"She knew you loved her," he said softly. "And it was an honest mistake. Every relationship has its spats. You can't blame yourself for what happened. Bad things just happen sometimes, and there's little we can do about it."

"I _can_ blame myself for what happened." Zack said, his voice muffled by his head being buried in his arms. "If I hadn't of lost my temper, she would have never left. Now she's missing and I'm the only one to blame!"

"Maybe she is okay. I mean, they say no news is good news, right?" Cody said, grasping at straws for whatever he might say that could bring some comfort.

Zack looked up at him.

"Cody, I keep wanting to tell myself that. But if she were okay, she would have contacted someone. She's not okay. She's probably dead out there somewhere. And I have no one to blame but myself! All I can do is wait for the inevitable visit or phone call confirming my wife is dead."

Zack buried his face in his arms. A few people were casting looks in their direction, but most probably assumed Zack was just really drunk. It was all that Cody could do but sit there and look at him helplessly.

"I also threw away the ring." Zack said sullenly.

"Excuse me?" Cody asked, confused.

"My wedding ring. I lost it. I threw into a lake."

Cody looked at him. "Why?"

"I don't know. I just got really upset and did it. I was not in my right mind. I wish I hadn't. I feel really bad about it. Does that make me a bad person, Cody? I threw away my biggest connection to her. I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't thinking."

"It doesn't make you a bad person. You're still grieving."

"I just want to be over this. I just want to be able to go back to my work and be happy. But I can't imagine myself not going on without her being a part of my life. Every girl I've ever dated before her just seems so fleeting. So wasteful. She was the center of my world."

"You can't expect to get over something like this anytime soon, Zack. It takes a lot of time to get over someone who means something the way Bailey means to me." Cody said. "I couldn't imagine having to go through what you're going through right now. You need to give yourself some time to wait and grieve and find out the truth."

Zack looked up at Cody, his eyes bloodshot and soggy from crying.

"I'm not sure I want the truth. I dread finding out the truth more than anything else. If she's alive, I want to know, sure, but if she's not… I'm not so sure I'd rather find out at all."

(2)

Zack and Cody spent the day together. Cody had taken a few personal days off. Reconnecting with Cody and Bailey did help to soothe Zack's spirits.

He was able to play with their kids, and he felt regret that he had barely seen them much since they were born. Some pain came back into his heart as he thought about the kids he'd dreamed about having with Maya someday.

After a few days passed and Zack returned to LA. He had no further option but to throw himself back into his work. Staying home all day long would accomplish nothing but make him worse.

His pain had not abated, but the trip with Cody and Bailey had lifted his spirits just enough to help him be able to cope better. He was doing mostly okay as long as he kept his mind busy. It was at night when the tears and pain would come at their worst.

It was one day in May towards the end of spring when he would finally receive some news.

He and Lenny had been working out arrangements for a new nightclub in Vermont. It was based off an idea that had suddenly popped into his head about a year or so ago. He hadn't been exactly sure where it had come from, just that the entire concept and name had appeared in his head with no warning.

All of Zack's nightclubs had a theme. That was the catch that had made him into such a successful entrepreneur. No two nightclubs were the same.

It had been based off an idea when Zack and Cody were kids and Moseby had let them start their own 'teen club' in the Tipton lounge. It had been really successful, but Zack had taken it a little _too _far and started doing some really elaborate themes on each subsequent night. It was a hit, but a few really bad "business decisions" had nearly burned the hotel down.

But now Zack was one of the wealthiest business owners in the world. He had taken his idea from when he was a kid and turned it into something incredibly lucrative. Now, his nightclubs made up the most successful nightclub chain in the nation.

Every club had a completely different and wild theme. One was decked out like a pirate ship, another like a haunted castle, yet another was entirely 60s themed, still another was stone-age themed, and then there was the really controversial one he opened up in Texas based off of the play and movie 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.' He had been strangely absent on opening night until he'd showed up dressed in a Marvin Zindler costume and pretended to try and to chase everyone out. Then all the employees had broken out into a musical number... good times, good times.

There were many of these clubs all over the nation. Zack never duplicated the same club twice. He'd even made it out into a game for customers who made the effort to travel across country and visit all the clubs. There were rewards for customers who visited enough of the clubs in certain combinations. It was a genius business tactic that brought in a whole lot more revenue.

It was looking like 'Club Zack' was now going to end up going international. Some of the key clubs from the U.S. would be replicated in different cities of select countries with a few country specific clubs, including themed clubs of the particular countries located right in the capital cities.

It was looking like it was going to be a few years away before all this got up and running, though it was still pretty exciting.

Zack's newest club that he was laying out plans for today was going to be a retro car themed club. It was not just going to be a nightclub, but a place where people actually brought their old cars and showed them off, like a car show/nightclub hybrid. He was going to call it 'Kars.' Zack felt it would be unique and probably attract a whole new clientele.

Zack's career was in full swing, and it was showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. There were so many exciting things in store for the future, and yet, none of it seemed to matter as much anymore, no matter how exciting it was.

Ever since the inception of the concept of 'Club Zack,' he had never done a single thing without Maya at his side. She was as much the biggest part of the business next to him and Lenny.

But now things were rolling on and she was no longer there. This was one of the things that made it hardest to work since she'd disappeared several months ago. Even when she had been away on assignment in the Peace Corps after they'd graduated Seven Seas High, he had talked to her over the phone every day. She hadn't thought a long distance relationship would work, but it did. Zack loved her dearly and despite his past as a notorious womanizer, he'd never touched any of the women he came into contact with daily. And as successful a businessman as he was, he could have any woman he wanted.

Even now that she was gone, he had never even slightly entertained the thought of being with another woman. It was just not an option. How different he was now than the old Zack he had once been before meeting her.

But life was moving on, and there was nothing to fill the deep ache that Zack felt inside his heart.

And it was on this day, May 21st, 2019, that he had come home from work and would finally hear something about her. He hadn't been able to sleep much the night before (his grief had hit a high point), and he'd been laying out plans for Kars all day, and the fatigue had finally gotten to him.

Zack lived in a very nice house in the middle of a gated suburban community, the kind of neighborhood where he was next door to more than one celebrity and had even been invited over to several of their houses a few times for cookouts.

Zack had been living the dream. But now that Maya was gone, the dream meant hardly anything anymore. Zack came home as he did every day to the oversized brick house which he now felt was far too excessive and couldn't fathom how or why he had convinced Maya they needed such a huge house in the first place. It just made it seem all that more empty when he walked in the door and made his way upstairs to his (their) bedroom.

He fell on the bed he and Maya had once shared and didn't bother getting under the sheets. He usually cried first when he laid down before going to sleep, but he was too exhausted right now to have the will, and slumber overtook him almost immediately.

His sleep lasted for a little over an hour before someone came ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door that he finally got that visit he had been dreading for the whole month since Maya had disappeared.


	3. The News

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 2: The News**

_The ball of fire blazed across the sky, lighting up the black clouds as it fell through them. It illuminated them into a golden red until it seemed as if the whole sky was on fire. He could see it as it was falling and as it began plummeting toward the earth. It was as if it was a meteor, but there was something else about it, something more that terrified him to the core…_

Zack shot wide awake. The doorbell was ringing, intermixed with someone pounding on the door.

Zack wondered how long he'd been asleep. He looked over at the clock next to his bed. 7:20.

The person at the door sounded really frustrated. At first, Zack was going through his head paranoid trying to figure out if he had pissed anyone off recently. He had a Glock 9mm in the drawer of his bedside table. But he decided not to grab it and take it with him. He couldn't think of anyone who'd have anything against him. Besides, he lived in a gated community. It was unlikely anyone who had anything against him would have been able to get in here without a lot of trouble. Groggily, he headed down the stairs and looked through the peephole.

His heart sank when he recognized the person. It was Sergeant John Tracy with the LAPD.

He felt a lump in his throat. He knew this was probably the visit he'd been dreading. His worst fears were likely about to be confirmed.

Zack knew John personally. John had been a close acquaintance of his for several years, ever since a bizarre incident a few years back before he'd become famous and was just getting his nightclub business up and running. A prominent gang leader had gotten Zack mixed up with a rival drug dealer, and a whole bunch of gang members had showed up at Zack's club looking for him. The cops had shown up and there had very nearly been a shootout. Luckily the whole thing had ended up being resolved without any gunfire or injury.

When Maya had disappeared, John had personally flown up to New York with Zack and had assisted with the search.

If John was on his doorstep now, it almost certainly meant bad news. With shaking fingers, Zack released the deadbolt, turned the lock, and opened the door.

John, in his wide brimmed hat, uniform, and drooping mustache, looked at Zack. His countenance was serious and somber, which made Zack even more certain that the news was not going to be good.

"I thought you must be here," John said. "I didn't think your car would be parked outside if you weren't."

"I'm sorry about that." Zack said, rubbing his hand on his face and trying to get the sleep out of his eyes. "I was sleeping. I've had a pretty exhausting day."

"Well, I think you know why I'm here. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I have some news on your wife." John said point-blank.

Zack felt like he was about to cry, but he did his best to hold it in. He immediately asked John the dreaded question foremost on his mind. He just wanted to get it all over with from the outset and be done with it.

"Is she dead?"

"Can I come inside?" was John's only reply.

"You're not answering my question." Zack said, still not moving from his position inside the door, feeling like his insides were literally about to rip apart.

"I do not have an answer to give to you."

The dread feeling Zack had been having in anticipation of finally receiving the bad news climbed down to a more neutral level.

"So you're not here to tell me you've finally found her body somewhere?"

"I'm here because there's new development in the case, but no, her whereabouts are still unknown."

Zack gave a small, stressed sigh of relief. He was glad John was not here to give him bad news after all, but at the same time, he continued to feel dread because there was still no sign of closure in sight. But Zack was eager to hear this new development that John had come out to give him.

"Please, come in." Zack said.

John entered and Zack closed the door. As he led John to the living room, John took off his hat and held it to his chest out of habit while Zack asked:

"Would you, uh, like anything to drink? I've got Chardonnay, Burgundy, some Irish Whisky..."

"No, thanks." John said. "I'm still on duty for another two hours. You know how I am. But I will take some coffee if you've got some."

"You got it."

Zack did know how John was. John never drank while he was on duty. Off duty, that was a different story. Zack had figured it was polite to offer anyways. Zack and John entered the living room which was at the back of the house. It was a spacious room with a wooden floor, two large glass windows in the back, and a wooden dining table with chairs sitting next to it for a view into the backyard. In the middle of the room were two black leather couches sitting opposite each other along with a small mahogany coffee table in between the couches and an ornate rug underneath. A small opening on the far back right side of the room led off into the kitchen. Attached to the kitchen was a minibar that was well stocked.

Zack headed into the kitchen and made two cups of coffee with one of those coffee makers where you had to insert individual coffee packs and you got one cup per pack. Then he came back in the living room where John was sitting on one of the couches facing the window. Zack sat on the couch opposite of John, after reaching over to hand John his cup of coffee.

"So, what news do you have?"

"We found a car that was rented under her name." John said, taking a sip of the coffee.

A feeling went through Zack that was several different emotions that he couldn't properly identify at this time.

"Where?"

"Way out in the sticks, out in the countryside of Massachusetts."

"Massachusetts?" Zack asked, shocked.

John nodded. "It was found on the side of a dirt road in a heavily wooded area, on a road that leads from a small town called Fetch Rock and eventually back to I-93. It's near Quincy and Braintree, just way more out in the sticks. It's a coastal town, right on the edge of the state."

"And you're sure it was hers?"

"It was rented at the Boston airport the day after she left L.A. She used her credit card and her I.D. Investigators did some asking around the Boston airport. They remembered her specifically."

"What on Earth was she doing in Boston?"

"The main reason they remembered her because she had apparently boarded the wrong flight and had put in a complaint after she landed in Boston. Apparently the ticket they'd given her had directed her to the wrong gate. Which is curious, because there was no glitch they found in the system that should have caused that. According to our investigators, after talking with the airport and being offered a refund and a free flight, she checked into the St. Mark's hotel for the rest of the night, mentioning her intent to catch a flight to New York the next day. For whatever reason, she changed her plans. People who work at the airport remembered her renting a car the next day. She did not mention why or where she was going. And as you well know, neither her mother nor anyone else received any contact from her during this time whatsoever."

"And they found the car abandoned way out in the country? Were there any signs that anything unusual occurred?"

"Well, the driver's side door was open. They found all of her personal belongings inside. Purse, travel bag, ect. She seems to have taken nothing with her. It is interesting, because it seemed her stuff had not arrived at the Boston airport. Presumably, her stuff had been sent to New York, but somehow she got it back and had it with her because all her stuff was in the car. She filed a report on the missing luggage with the airport, but there was no indication that it was ever found by the airport and given back to her."

Zack sat trying to take this all in. "And it was on the side of the road the whole time? How come no one ever found it until now?"

"You have to understand, this is WAY out in the sticks. Not many people ever travel along these roads. It's not surprising that we are just now finding out about it."

"Who found the car?"

"A couple of tourists just passing through, taking the scenic route. They thought it was suspicious, so they alerted the authorities when they got into town. The authorities in Braintree ID'd the car and patched it through to us."

"Which way was the car facing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Was it coming from or going towards Fetch Rock?"

"Coming from, I believe."

"And the police checked around the town? Did anyone there recall seeing her pass through?"

"Well, we sent a sergeant and a few officers down to investigate. They claimed to have not seen anyone matching her description nor her car."

Zack rubbed his hand through his hair. "But that doesn't mean a whole lot, does it? They probably have a lot of tourists coming through and what-not."

John just looked at him, as if he had something going on in his head he wasn't sure he should fully let out.

"That isn't quite the case. Fetch Rock is not prone to having visitors nor outsiders on a regular basis. They would have known if someone not from around there had come through their town."

"Are they absolutely certain? Maybe she passed through really quickly and they didn't notice her."

John sighed. "This town is not like most normal towns, Zack."

Zack could feel the strong sense of dread rising up in him again.

"What do you mean by that? Is there something about this town I should know about? Are you saying you think something actually could have happened to Maya there?"

John held up his hand to caution Zack.

"Now, I don't want you to jump to conclusions about anything, Zack. This is the primary reason I came out here to deliver this news to you personally. I didn't want you to hear about this and have your mind go wild. I want to state very clearly and right off the bat that there is no conclusive evidence whatsoever that foul play was involved nor that this town had anything to do with anything."

"But what do you mean by 'not like other towns?'"

John sat his coffee cup down on the table and folded his hands as he sat leaning toward Zack.

"Fetch Rock is a very closed off community. They have their own close-knit community and self-sustained economy. They survive on largely their own stuff, for the most part. They're way out in the sticks for a reason. They want to be left alone."

"What are they? Amish or something?" Zack said.

John shook his head. "No, actually, they have a lot of modern amenities that the outside world does. They have cars and electricity and all that stuff. If you were to drive through and not know any better, you'd see at first glance just another New England town. They just simply won't accept the majority of their goods from the outside world."

"But I'd imagine that even if they have modern amenities they'd still have to get quite a few things from the outside. Don't they have truckers that go through there that might have seen something?"

"That's one of the more… eccentric things about this town, for lack of a better word. They make the claim that God provides everything they need and that they don't need anything delivered. They have a lot of products there that you might find in any normal grocery store, but no brand names. Nobody's ever seen delivery trucks come to the area, either. And believe me, you ask in the other towns near the area, people have watched. Oh, I have no doubt that they are delivering the stuff somehow. But no one is sure exactly how they are doing it."

"Maybe by boat?" Zack suggested.

"It's possible." John said, rubbing his chin. "They have a lighthouse, but they claim it has not been used since shortly after they first founded the place. Seems to be defunct. Aside from a few rowboats, they do not have any large boats in town at all. Many of the townspeople attest they've never even seen a large boat before, and it seems quite possible they're telling the truth."

At the mention of the lighthouse, Zack remembered his dream just before waking up and felt a chill. Not that he thought the lighthouse in the town and his dream were connected. It was just a coincidence, is all. But this entire conversation was getting just too plain weird. He'd never heard of this town before or anything like it. He briefly wondered if he must be still dreaming, though he was certain he seemed wide awake.

"This place is sounding more and more like something out of a Stephen King novel."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it yet." John said.

"What do you mean by that? What else is there about this place? And for the record, do _you_ suspect any foul play?"

John sighed. "As for the part about foul play, it's really hard to say. As I've said, there really isn't any conclusive evidence to indicate such. And there's never been any known incident that points to the town as a player in any questionable actions."

"Yeah, but if they're so isolated and reclusive as you say, maybe that's the reason why. And you said Maya's car was facing coming FROM the town."

"Well, the road branches off into a fork just before you hit the town. It was not coming from the town per se, exactly. It just as likely could have been coming from the opposite way. It mostly appears to have been coming from the direction of the town due to the direction it was facing. There's no indication the car may have spun around to end up in the direction it was found in."

"Can't they get a warrant and search the town?"

"The town has their own small police force, or what passes for it anyway. They have their own jurisdiction. It wouldn't be possible unless it could be proven that something unusual actually did take place in the town."

"I've lived in Massachusetts most of my life growing up. I've heard of towns like Quincy and Braintree, but I've never heard of Fetch Rock."

"You wouldn't have." John said. "I really meant what I said when I said this is a very closed off community. You won't find it on any U.S. map. That fork in the road I mentioned isn't even on any Massachusetts map, it only shows the road that takes you back to the highway. Even going down the other road, it's still 20 miles of nothing but trees and woods until you finally hit the town."

"But if this town is so secluded, then maybe it's because they've got something to hide!" Zack pressed. "Maybe Maya found out about something that made them want to harm her!"

"Zack," John raised his hand to caution him. "I'm telling you this as a friend. You've been under a lot of stress. I know it's very tempting to jump to conclusions, and I fully expected you to do so, but you must not be so hasty."

"Did they search the woods around the car?" Zack said with an elevated tone.

"Of course they did. Standard protocol."

"And they found nothing?"

"If they'd have found anything, I would have told you."

"Well, if she abandoned her car, and they couldn't find her body in the area, then that means it must have been foul play!"

"Zack, those woods stretch on for miles around. There's no telling which direction she could have gone in or how far."

"I'm going to Fetch Rock!" Zack said, slamming his hand on the couch cushion.

"I figured you'd say that."

Zack stood up and started pacing frantically.

"If there's any chance of finding out what happened to Maya, I have to take it!"

"Just be careful!" John cautioned him.

"I thought you said didn't suspect foul play!" Zack said, turning to John.

"I never said that. I just said there was no conclusive evidence of foul play."

"But you are open to the possibility that there might have been!"

John sighed again and stood up.

"As I said before, the reason I came out here personally tonight to give you the news is because I'm your friend. And I knew you would want to go out and check for yourself. And I don't want you to jump to hasty conclusions and assume that someone killed her or that there's some sort of conspiracy at work. There's no proof of that. There are just some stories about this town, as I've already stated, and I wanted to have the chance to talk to you face to face so you don't automatically assume the worst and go out making this search any harder than it needs to be."

"What else do I need to know about this town?" Zack said, looking at him.

"There are a few more things that would be worth being aware of. For one, the townspeople are very cold to outsiders. When you go there, you will find it's one of the prettiest New England towns in the country, but the way you will get treated by the people there will be a little unsettling. The town has some very strict rules towards outsiders. They won't even allow outsiders into most parts of the town. They also have a very strict curfew. No one goes out after dark and no one is allowed to be prowling around outside after dark. If you were not born and bred in their town, they want you to take care of your business and nothing more and get out of there as soon as possible without asking any questions."

"See!" Zack said, throwing his hands up. "This sounds more and more like they've got something to hide!"

"…this is not to say that if you violate any of their rules anything bad will happen to you." John continued, ignoring Zack's outburst. "They will simply force you to leave. There has not been to date any record nor indication of anyone being physically harmed for violating their rules in any way, nor has anyone ever disappeared as a result of violating their rules. Your wife's disappearance is a total fluke. If they did do something to her, this would be the first time we'd be aware of."

"So, you're saying they're extremely unfriendly, but probably not actually dangerous?"

"That we've ascertained thus far, yes."

"Is there anything else I need to be wary of?"

John's face had a look that said 'yes.'

"Spill it!" Zack said.

John rubbed his hand through his hair. "I'm really only going on stories I've heard about the town, so I really don't know how much is truth and how much is embellished. So this is hearsay. The town seems to run not just on its own economy, but, as I've already alluded to toward the beginning of this conversation, it also has sort of its own religion as well. Something a lot like Christianity, but a type of odd variation."

"How odd do you mean?"

"Well, I heard all this from another officer who knows somebody who supposedly sat through one of their church services. I really don't want to say because I really don't know how much is true and I don't want to fill you with false ideas."

"Try me."

"I'd rather not fill your head with any more than I have already, especially if it happens to not be true. Just be wary if you see anything weird up there that it doesn't catch you too much off guard. As I've said, there's never been any indication that these people are dangerous nor that they've harmed anyone in any way."

"So, you don't think there's anything to be overly concerned about?"

"Statistically, one might say probably not. I'd simply be cautious. I'm only saying what is most commonly known about the town."

"I'll be careful." Zack said, looking at the floor. "I won't jump to any conclusions. I just have to go and check it out for myself. I have to talk to the people there. It's the only way I'll be able to feel in any way satisfied."

"I'd come with you myself, but we are so tied up down here right now I just can't get away again for a while." John said. "But keep me posted if you do come across anything. Contact me first, I'll make sure that whatever needs to be taken care of is immediate."

Zack nodded. "Will do."

John went out to the car and brought in Maya's things for Zack. By then it was time for him to get going. He was still on duty, after all. Zack showed him out the door and thanked him. John turned to him as he was leaving and said: "Zack, be careful. And good luck."

After he left, Zack went back to his living room and paced around for a while. Outside, the sun had nearly finished setting. Zack had more nervous energy than he'd had in a long while. Truthfully, he had even less hope now that Maya was still alive. He truly believed she was dead by this point. But now he had a lead. At least maybe he could get a better hint of what had happened. Maybe he had a chance to put the pieces of this puzzle together and find closure, even if the results in the end were not the favorable outcome he so desperately desired for. At least he now had a direction to focus his energies toward.

He sat on the floor and went through Maya's things. Tears started to overtake him again. These things might be the last things he ever had to remember her by. Memories of the fight came again. His biggest mistake. If he ever found her safe and sound and alive, he knew he'd never fight with her again as long as he lived.

He was going to take the first flight he could get on tomorrow and head down to Fetch Rock. He was probably not going to be able to sleep tonight.

But when he finally went back upstairs, stripped out of his clothing, and laid down in between the sheets, mental fatigue began to overtake him. He laid on his side, grasping out of habit into invisible air, the side where Maya used to lay and he would, in another time, fall asleep while holding her and everything would be perfect with the world. It was a time when he would lie contentedly nuzzled up against her, feeling like nothing else were capable of mattering in the world.

She had been his greatest treasure. His second half. His soulmate. The rest of the world could have crumbled down around them, and as long as they'd had each other, everything would have been okay.

But she was gone now. And it was his fault and no one else's. Now all he could do was grasp invisible air. All was not alright with the world. As was his usual nightly custom, he cried for a while before exhaustion won him over and he fell into a not-quite peaceful slumber.


	4. Fetch Rock

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 3: Fetch Rock**

It was close to evening the next day that Zack when was driving along the dirt road through the heavily wooded area toward where Fetch Rock was supposed to be. It was 5:45 PM, and the evening sun was beginning its long descent, lighting up the partly clouded sky in a beautiful orange. Not that the sky could be more than barely seen through the canopy of trees overhead.

Zack had driven quite a ways from the last real town. For a while, it had been nothing but open country. Then it had suddenly turned into woods, and then the road had forked, until it had become one long, endless dirt road.

Zack was having a hard time knowing if he was going the right way or not since this road was not on the map. As far as he knew from the locals he had gathered information from beforehand, he probably _was_ going the right way. They had said to simply take the first fork that that was not on the map and follow the dirt road all the way and he would eventually hit the town. And that was exactly what he was doing right now.

The locals… he hadn't been able to ask about Fetch Rock without eliciting a sudden strong attention not just from the person he was asking, but also from everyone else who was standing around in earshot. It was as if he had dropped some incredible secret that was never supposed to have come out of his mouth.

One guy had asked what business a tourist like him might have with Fetch Rock. Zack kept his business to himself, but the man had tried to talk him out of going.

Zack had felt stares lingering on him up until he'd left and driven out of sight.

He had been driving for a good long while now. Driving this far in the middle of nowhere made him nervous. He'd filled up on gas right before making this trip, but he couldn't help the encroaching paranoia of what might happen if he kept driving and never came across town. What if he drove so long, hoping to eventually come upon the town, and it never showed up? He imagined getting lost, his car finally giving out in the middle of nowhere, without any gas, where he was all alone out here without anyone to call for help. He was certain there was no way he would be getting cell phone service all the way out here.

But his fears were eventually allayed when suddenly he turned a curve and came to an opening where the trees ended, and just beyond it was the town.

It came up on him so abruptly that it surprised him. Everything he'd heard was true. This was one of the prettiest New England towns he'd ever seen. Pretty white and red brick buildings surrounded on one side by green forest as far as the eye could see, and surrounded on the other side by the Atlantic Ocean. It was breathtaking. The final touch to the perfect scene was the lighthouse that Zack could see sitting prominently like a sore thumb on a tiny island in the ocean a ways out from the town.

The first thing Zack noticed was that there wasn't a sign welcoming him to Fetch Rock or anything like you'd usually see when entering a small town. Actually, as far as he could see, there were no road signs anywhere, not even speed limit signs. Zack wondered if the police ever busted anyone for speeding here. Zack downgraded his speed to 30 miles per hour just to be on the safe side, then down to 10 miles per hour as he approached the downtown area. You really never could tell with these small towns.

The town had a very old fashioned small town look to it. Zack felt honestly as if he'd gone back in time to a much simpler era. There was little that was modern whatsoever in sight, save for the few cars he would see every now and then parked on the sides of the street. The cars being used in this town were modern. But his was the only car driving on the road at this time.

Even though the place looked like a town straight out of perhaps a century or two ago, it was extremely well maintained. None of the buildings were dilapidated nor showed any signs of decay. The paint on every building looked fresh, and all the buildings stood out brightly. Zack had never seen an old town like this that looked as nice as this one. It struck him that he probably never would again.

Zack was driving through the downtown area when it struck him that he hadn't seen any people this entire time. It was as if the town was completely deserted, though he told himself that couldn't possibly be.

Zack downgraded his speed further and looked around carefully. On closer inspection, he realized that he COULD see people, they were inside the buildings, watching him through the windows. He suddenly realized there probably wasn't a single window in which one or several people weren't staring out at him.

_Way to make a guy feel welcome. _Zack thought.

Well, Zack was here on a mission. And these people weren't going to deter him one bit.

He pulled over into a gas station, quite possibly the only gas station in town. As with everything else, there was no sign. It wasn't an Exxon, nor a Texaco, nor anything recognizable like that.

_Now, surely they have to have trucks coming from the outside to refill the gas._ Zack thought to himself

Zack tried to imagine an eighteen wheeler trying to make its way through the woods on that dirt road around those curves.

Zack pulled up to the pump, killed the ignition, and got out of his car.

No sooner had he done so than a short, stocky man came running out of the building towards him.

He stopped suddenly about 10 feet from Zack, as if he'd suddenly decided Zack had some kind of contagious disease that he might catch from getting too close.

The guy stared at Zack up and down. The man looked about in his 60s, was wearing a red cap with no logo, a plaid shirt, and some jeans with a hole ripped in the right leg.

"Can I help you?" he asked with a tone that came off more along the lines of _what the hell are you doing here _rather than a friendly greeting, as he eyed Zack warily.

"I need to fill up my gas." Zack said.

"I'll get that for you." the man said, still eyeing him suspiciously.

The man walked around the pump over to Zack's vehicle and started to pump the gas.

"Are you staying in town long?" the man asked with a tone that suggested it would be preferable if Zack didn't.

"I'm here on business." Zack said matter-of-factly. He'd already decided that he wasn't going to let this guy nor any of these people get to him, no matter what they did.

"There ain't no business to be conducted in Fetch Rock." the man said as he filled Zack's rented Expedition. Zack noted there was no gauge on the pump showing the price. Actually, there wasn't even a sign in front of the gas station showing any price. It was then that he realized that none of the buildings in Fetch Rock had signs.

Zack fished his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a picture.

"Have you seen this woman?" he asked, holding it towards the man.

The man hunched over and looked at the picture like it was a firecracker that might go off at any second. He snorted.

"You another cop?"

"I'm her husband."

He looked at Zack. Something seemed to light up in the man's eyes, but then it quickly went away.

"No, I ain't seen her. Everybody here will tell you the same." he said gruffly.

"You're sure?"

He didn't look at Zack as he continued to fill his vehicle. "It's just as we told the other cops that were nosing around here. Fetch Rock don't get many visitors. If she'd have been here, we would've seen her."

"Where do you guys keep your police station?" Zack asked.

The man pointed up the road from where Zack had come.

"You go up the road. It's just past three streets up, next to the municipal building. It's the fourth. But you don't take the fourth to get to it, 'cause you don't go near the municipal building. That's off limits to outsiders. You take the third street or go up to the fifth street and go 'round till you come to the station. They'll tell you the same thing they told those detectives that came in town last week. Nobody's seen your woman. Ain't nobody been in Fetch Rock an entire year up 'till the outside police came snooping around."

"Well, I'll feel better when I've checked into it and asked around myself." Zack said firmly.

The man grunted.

"Waste of your time. I'm telling you, your woman didn't come here."

"Do you have a hotel?" Zack asked.

The man turned and gave him a look like he didn't understand.

"What?"

"A hotel. You know, a place to stay, eat, get refreshed, all that good stuff. While I'm at it, could be so kind as to point me to a good eating place? I'm kind of famished."

The man looked at him for a few seconds. Then he pointed back up the road.

"Second street. Take a right. Take a left on the first street, then go up a ways, and take a right on the third street you come to. Large gray building. White picket fence outside. Can't miss it."

"Are we talking the hotel or the restaurant?"

The man grunted.

"The place you'll be staying. If you want some good eatin', you go up this road and take a left on the second street. Diner there. It's where all the townsfolk gather this time of evening. But I'd be careful if I were you."

"Why should I be careful?" Zack pressed him.

"'Cause yer tresspassin'." the man said sharply.

"As I said, I'm just here to find my wi..."

"I've said it before, an' I'm gonna say it again." the man said roughly. "You ain't gonna find her here. You'd best be taking care of your business and be gettin' along. And don't be prowlin' around after curfew."

"I won't." Zack said respectfully. "I'm not here to cause any problems. I just want to reassure myself that she was never here and then I will be out of your hair. I don't want to disrespect your town or your rules in any way."

The man grunted. Zack's Expedition was done being filled. The man replaced the pump and capped the gas tank.

"Is it possible I can talk to the mayor of your town, or whatever you call your leader?" Zack asked.

"The _mayor_ is out at present." the man said. "He won't be back until the mornin'."

"I see. Oh, I almost forgot." Zack reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

"No charge." the man said gruffly.

"Oh, you sure?" Zack said, confused at the sudden turn of generosity.

"We don't got no need for money in this town. Never have."

"But don't you ever buy or sell or anything like that?"

"Our Lord provides for us. He provides everything we need."

"But you don't get stuff from the outside or anything like that? Goods? Merchandise? Don't you have an economy of any sort here?" Zack pressed.

"Our Lord provides for us." the man repeated firmly.

"How is it that you have gas if no one ever comes from the outside to pump it in?" Zack continued.

"Our Lord provides for us."

"The Lord creates a never-ending supply of gas for you? Boy, is the rest of the U.S. economy getting stiffed. The president could sure take a few lessons from you people!" Zack said, suddenly realizing his sarcastic tone might not go over real well.

The man looked frustrated. "The Lord created the universe and the heavens and the Earth out of nothing. The world has faltered by trying to become their own gods, and so He has handed you all over to your own wickedness. That is why the Lord doesn't provide for you like he does us." the man said, pointing at the sky or Zack as he talked, Zack couldn't tell which.

"So, basically, I couldn't ask God to magically fill up my tank for me whenever I need to run to the store because I'm a dirty rotten sinner and I don't have my stuff as together as all of you?"

"It is only the wickedness in your heart that dares you to ask such a question." the man said certainly, still pointing as he spoke.

"I see." Zack said, maybe betraying his sarcasm with his voice a little too much. "And you actually require a gas station? Why couldn't God just fill up all your tanks on demand? Why do you even need to pump gas? Does God's gas last longer than regular gas? Do I now have supernatural holy gas that would last me if I decided to drive from here all the way back to LA? Or will I barely be able to get down the road because I'm a dirty rotten unbelieving sinner?"

"Your gas will last you as long as any other gas."

"You didn't answer any of my other questions."

Zack knew it probably wasn't a good idea to push it and make any of these people angry. But he couldn't help it. He had lots of genuine questions, and he could feel his sarcastic side screaming to break free. And it's not like the people of this town had exactly tried to give him a friendly welcome anyways.

"The Lord's ways are not for any of us to question. He is righteous and just in all that He does."

Zack wanted to retort by saying that that was a cop-out, but he decided it would be best to leave it be.

Instead, he gave as friendly a smile as he could and said, "Well, thanks for the information!"

The man just grunted. Zack opened the door to get back in his vehicle. He was halfway inside when he said:

"Oh, one more thing. I noticed you guys have a port and a lighthouse, but no boats."

"This was a port town when it was first settled. But we no longer need 'em."

"So you don't get supplies delivered by boat?"

"I told you! Our Lord provides everything we need!" the man said, sounding exasperated by this point.

"Right. Sorry. Just asking. Have a good day!"

The man said nothing as Zack started his car and began down the road. The man stood and watched him the whole time. Everybody else continued to stare out at Zack through the windows.

(2)

Zack's next stop was the inn. He wanted to get his sleeping arrangements taken care of before he went to get a bite to eat.

The "inn" (which, once again, had no sign) was a tall, wide, very old looking building (but still in perfect condition) with gray siding. A white picket fence surrounded the front of the property, and a cobblestone path led up to the stairs to the porch.

The front lawn was well maintained, and the bushes were properly trimmed. Zack had not seen a single thing in this town that wasn't superbly kept up. The town was so utterly clean compared to anything he'd ever seen before.

Zack made his way along the path and up to the front door. He stopped short of it. He wasn't sure if he should knock or just go right in. He decided to be courteous and knock.

He knocked about three different times and waited on the porch for about five minutes. When no one came, he decided to see if he could just go in. The door was unlocked. He allowed himself inside and closed the door behind him.

Inside the building, it _looked _like a place where you could check in. This surprised Zack, considering how many visitors Fetch Rock was likely to get on a regular basis, especially if they were accustomed to giving everyone not from around here the same kind of welcome he'd had so far. But the Oriental rug beneath his feet on the wooden floor led up to a desk that actually had a bell. There was a door right behind the desk that Zack presumed might be an office, and to the left was an opening that led somewhere else into the house. To the right of the desk was a stairwell heading up.

Zack walked over to the desk and rang the bell. "Hello?" he called.

He heard nothing for a few seconds, then finally heard footsteps coming from the opening next to the office.

An older woman appeared cautiously from behind. She stopped short at the sight of Zack much like the gas station attendant had. She looked about in her 70s, short, petite, with her gray hair rolled up in a bun on top of her head. She had double type glasses nestled on her face, and was wearing a white dress with white and yellow flowers all over.

"Can I help you?" she said, carefully walking over to the desk. Her tone of voice indicated she was about as eager to help Zack as the gas station attendant had been.

A man appeared cautiously from behind the opening. He looked around the same age as her. He was beefy, balding, and had a thick, curving moustache. He was dressed in pants, white shirt and red sweater vest. He stood and stared at Zack with his hands resting on his hips.

"I'd like to have a room to stay in, please." Zack said normally, intent on not letting these people intimidate him no matter how much they tried.

The lady stared at him with a look that showed off how extraordinarily he was probably inconveniencing them.

"Will you be staying long?" she asked gruffly.

"Maybe several days. Don't really know yet."

She looked almost horrified. The beefy man, who Zack assumed was her husband, said nothing.

"Well," She said, looking down at the papers on her desk. "I think we do have one room you could take."

Zack couldn't imagine that any of the rooms could possibly be occupied, but he withheld the sarcastic remark that was running through his head right now.

"Will you be bringing in any luggage?" she asked him.

Once again, Zack had to stop himself from saying "D'uh."

"Just two bags. I travel light."

"I see." the woman said.

She reached down under the desk and produced a key.

"It's going to be the very first room on your right when you reach the top of the stairs. We do NOT serve food here. You will have to make sure you have your own food on hand should you feel like having a midnight snack. Do NOT go out after curfew."

"Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure to keep myself fully stocked. Do you happen to have a convenience store around here?"

"The only store is the supermarket." she said, staring at him. She gave him the directions.

"Thanks." Zack said. "How much do I owe you per night?"

She looked shocked. "We don't use money here. Everything is free. Our..."

"Your Lord provides everything you need. Sorry. Keep forgetting." Zack said.

Her mouth hung open as she gaped at him.

"I'm... uh, just going to go and get my bags and get settled in my room. I promise I won't be in you guys' hair or anything like that, nor that of anyone in this town."

Their looks suggested that as long as he remained in town, he was. But they didn't say anything. They just stood and stared at him.

"Okay." he said as he gave a smile and friendly wave and turned out the front door.

_Weird._

As he walked up to the path to his car, he saw a teenager and a little girl standing in the middle of the street, staring at him. Zack smiled and gave them a friendly wave as well. They didn't respond in the slightest. As Zack got to his car, he could see that multiple people had now ventured out from the safety of the buildings and were now casting stares in the direction of the hotel.

Zack decided to ignore them and keep about his business as if nothing were even slightly off. He _refused _to let these people intimidate him from doing what he needed to do.

He got his two bags from the car and took them back into the house. The couple was still standing in the same positions, watching him closely.

_Take a picture, why don't you. _Zack thought as he trudged up the steps, ignoring them.

The room itself was spacious, but nothing special. There was a bed, a night table, a dresser, a large window that gave a nice view of the town, a closet, and a bathroom.

Zack set his luggage next to the bed. He wanted to climb in it and collapse. But that would have to come later. He still had things to do. He'd have plenty of time to sleep after curfew.

Zack walked over to take a look out the window and saw several people staring up at him. Not at the building, but straight up at his window.

_Freaky. _Zack thought. It would have been one thing if they had been staring at the building itself, but they were looking straight up at his room. How did they know specifically which room he was staying in? Did the hotel owners call around town to let everyone know? Or was his just the room that was commonly given to outsiders? Neither would have surprised him.

He washed up a bit, then stepped outside of his room. He locked the door, though somehow he didn't think it would do any good to keep anyone from going in with another key and prying. It was time to head out and find that restaurant.

(3)

The restaurant was not obvious, just like everything else in this town. The building was nice, as expected, but once again, there was no sign nor any indicator of what it was. Zack had hoped he was not walking into the wrong building, but upon entering, he knew that he had gotten it right.

He was instantly assaulted by the smell of food when he entered the door. Considering he hadn't eaten in hours, it smelled very good to him.

He was a little offset by the fact that the diner was just as friendly as the rest of the town, although he should have been expecting that by this point. The moment he entered, literally every person inside stopped talking and eating and looked up to stare at him intently. They had been talking and carrying on as normal right as he'd entered, but upon them looking up and seeing him, the place had become so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Zack stood and waved nervously. Nobody waved back.

"Can I help you, sir?" the hostess appeared, almost out of nowhere, as if she'd intended to startle him a bit. She had a cold look on her face that Zack had come to know quite well in this town.

"Uh... table for one, please?"

Stare.

"Right this way, please."

Zack followed her as she took him over to a table over in the far right corner of the establishment.

"Do you know what you want?" she asked him coldly after he was seated.

_How would I know what I want? _Zack thought to himself. _I've never eaten here before._

"Can I see a menu, please?"

Glare.

"Give me just a few seconds, sir."

She came back a minute later and plopped down a dusty menu in front of him.

He looked it over for a few minutes. She stood beside the table the entire time, gazing down upon him. He ignored her and everyone else, even deliberately taking longer than he needed to choose.

_Not letting you people get to me._

"I'll just have a cheeseburger and fries, please."

"Drink?" she asked disgustedly, grabbing the menu from him.

"Shiner."

She glared at him like she didn't know what he was talking about.

"It's beer? You know, like Coors, Miller, Budweiser, ect? I'll take Coors if you don't have Shiner..."

"We don't carry any name brands from outside the town, sir. We have our own." she said as she continued to glare at him.

"Oh. Well, then in that case, I'll take whatever you got!"

"Tap or bottle?"

"Bottle. Maybe two."

She took the menu and wandered off without a word. Zack paid no attention to the people that were staring at him. He pulled out his iPhone and pretended to be doing stuff on it casually, though there was definitely no signal out here.

She brought back the bottles, which did not have any labels on them. That did not surprise him. Zack wondered if they had merely taken bottles of an actual brand and ripped the labels off.

The twist tabs, however, had no identifying logo.

"So, I didn't notice a brewery in town." Zack pressed.

"It isn't obvious." she said.

"I'll say. You've got no signs for anything anywhere. Must be hell for your tourist trade."

"We don't get many visitors out here in Fetch Rock."

"Oh, really? That's a shame. You've got such a lovely town." Zack said, trying really hard to keep the sarcasm level down.

"We must take good care of what the Lord gives us."

"By the way, I haven't noticed any kind of farmland or animals either. Where do you get the meat for your hamburgers? Or do I simply not want to know what I'm eating?" Zack was losing the war at keeping his sarcasm down.

"The Lord provides everything we need." she said a little frustratingly.

"Maybe I need to go to church more often." Zack said. "I mean, God makes burgers and gas and beer and everything else and just outright gives it to you. Does it materialize magically in the back of the restaurant, or does it fall from the sky like manna?"

She looked pissed. Zack knew it was probably a bad idea to keep pressing these people like this. But he couldn't help it. He was asking legitimate questions that he was genuinely curious to know the answers to. Everyone in the restaurant stared at him coldly, with emotionless expressions.

"The Lord will not be mocked!" she said to him.

"Hey, no, sorry, that's not what I meant." he said, throwing his hands up. "I was just asking out of curiosity. I really want to know. If the Lord really is capable of providing everything, maybe I would consider converting to your religion, too."

"Neither shall the rocks, nor the mountains, hide the unbelieving when He breaks from the clouds on that day! They..." the woman had started on, pointing sharply in the air with every word, but another guy had appeared behind her and laid his hand on her shoulder.

She looked him in the eyes guiltily, and he glared into hers.

"Excuse me." she said, as she left to tend to her business.

The man, a big guy who was surely somewhere around six feet with curly black hair set on top of a square shaped head, took a seat at the table opposite Zack.

Maybe Zack's pressing had done something after all. This was the first time anyone from the town had actively tried to engage with him.

"If you have any questions, you will want to take them up with our mayor, Archimedes Demarion." the man said to him point-blank.

"I _would _like to talk to the mayor. He's actually at the top of my list." Zack said.

"Sadly, he's out of town for the day, but you will surely meet with him tomorrow." The man had his had his hands folded on the table as he spoke. "May I ask what business brings you to Fetch Rock?"

The man seemed stern, but not as outright rude or unfriendly as the rest of the people had been so far.

Zack pulled out the picture of his wife and showed it to the man.

"This is my wife. She went missing a few months ago. Her car was found abandoned near the fork that leads directly to your town out in the middle of the forest."

The man's eyes lit up in recognition.

"Ah. You must be..."

"Zack Martin."

"Mr. Martin. We've already had the police coming through our town asking many questions. As we told them, we have not seen this woman at all. I'm very sorry for your loss, but I can assure you she's not nor was ever in this town." 

"I just had to come and find out for myself." Zack put Maya's picture back in his wallet.

"I understand. But I can absolutely assure you that it is a waste of your time."

"I'm supposed to believe you," Zack said. "But so far this has been the coldest, most unfriendliest town I've ever been to in my life. And I've barely been here an hour! And I'm supposed to be satisfied that supposedly no foul play of any sort took place while everyone here acts like my being here is a massive inconvenience, as if you guys have got some great, big secret to hide?"

"The people of this town are not used to outsiders. We are a very closed off community, very kept to ourselves. We do not like having outsiders nosing around in our personal business. That's just the way we are here. We live in isolation and we prefer to keep it that way. But this does not mean that we are bad people nor that we would ever do anything to physically harm anyone. Your presence here simply makes people uncomfortable."

"Did Maya's presence make anyone uncomfortable?" Zack pressed.

"I can understand how you feel," the man said, not being phased by the question. "But you cannot go looking for conspiracy under every nook and cranny just because something doesn't fit your definition of normal."

"Her car was abandoned. The driver's side door was wide open. Like she was running from something."

"Well... I don't know anything about that." the man said. "I hope she's alright. I really do. But you are not going to find her here. Talk with the mayor in the morning. He will help allay any of your suspicions. I can assure you that no 'foul play,' as you say, has ever happened, nor will ever occur at Fetch Rock."

Zack sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"If you feel like you need to continue searching, I understand." the man said. "Just respect our town and our traditions. The people here are very wary of you. Don't give them any reason to be wary any further. Try to take care of your business and wrap it up as soon as possible."

"They are not the only ones a little uncomfortable." Zack said.

The man smiled, and reached out his hand.

"Mark Millar." he said.

Zack reached over and cautiously shook his hand.

"If you ever need a friend in this town, or you can't find Archimedes, come talk to me. I'm usually here most of the day."

"Will do." Zack said.

Zack didn't entirely trust the man, but he didn't sense the same kind of malice in him that the rest of the town seemed to exude towards him.

"Now, if you will excuse me," Mark said, standing. "I have things to take care of. Enjoy the rest of your stay at Fetch Rock."

Zack was tempted to laugh at that, but instead waved him off politely with his hand. He was not going to risk alienating the one friend he might have in this town.

As Mark left, the waitress brought Zack's two bottles of beer. She left them on his table without saying a word. Zack twisted the top off his first beer and downed it. He was instantly surprised at the taste. It had a very unique flavor to it. Dark, but smooth. Similar to Shiner, but he almost thought this was better. He was pretty certain he had never tasted it before. Or maybe he was only imagining it. Certainly, some brands like Coors tasted completely differently in Colorado than it did elsewhere in the nation, so maybe they DID brew their own beer.

The waitress brought him his food. She still had a look of disgust on her face toward him. He briefly wondered if she might have put something in the food that might make him sick. He decided to chance it anyways. Once again, the quality and taste surprised him. He thought it might exceed many other establishments in the U.S.

Zack didn't get sick as he ate, though he figured that would probably come later, if at all.

Zack realized as he was eating that the people in the restaurant had started focusing on him less and were back to being absorbed in their own conversations, even though they were speaking in much lower tones than they probably would have normally been if he hadn't been there.

When the waitress came to get his plate, he said, "So, I take it the meal is on the town, too?"

"If you mean do you need to use money, no. The Lor..."

"The Lord provides everything you need. Right. Got that a hundred times already."

She looked like she could have stabbed him to death and enjoyed it immensely.

"The meal was very delicious. The Lord is good!" he tried to save as he lifted his second beer in toast and then finished it off real quickly, though he realized that statement probably came off as more sarcastic than he intended it to as well.

The woman left without a word.

_Oh, well. Can't win them all._

Zack felt weird about just getting up and leaving without paying. But nobody paid him any mind. The food had been really good. He would have to keep coming back as long as he was here. He was sure it would thrill that waitress. Not that he knew of any other restaurant in the town, though there would certainly have to be, he thought. But with no signs on anything whatsoever, he would have been hard pressed to find another restaurant anyways. And he didn't really want to have to go about interrogating the locals any more than he had to.

(4)

Zack was beginning to feel like a celebrity at this point. Well, he already almost was a type celebrity in the rest of the nation. Except he was apparently a celebrity here in a much creepier sort of fashion. The streets were occupied with people now. He found it strange, since no one had been outside when he had first arrived. Had they all seen his car coming and ran into the buildings? But if they were intimidated, they sure had a funny way of showing it. He didn't come into eyeshot of anyone without them turning and staring at him.

He eventually managed to find the supermarket.

It was a lot easier to find than the restaurant. It was pretty big. And the outside actually looked like a place where you would go to find groceries. (Again, there was no sign.)

The inside was a little weird, though. There were no checkout stands. There were shopping carts and a stand with tote bags for customers to use, the kind that were normally used by the save-the-Earth conscientious customers, but they were the only bags here that he saw.

He took one of them and went browsing through the store. He saw few employees. The few he did see were going about meticulously straightening or stocking shelves, or doing cleaning.

This in and of itself seemed odd. Zack had worked in a grocery store when he'd been a teenager as his first job. He'd never before seen a retail establishment in which every single employee actually seemed solely dedicated to their job.

He only saw two teenagers, and they were working as diligently as the adults. Not standing around, not chit-chatting nor slacking off. Not even smiling. No one smiled, come to think of it. And people were still staring at him, though surprisingly not as much here as when he'd first arrived.

Zack wandered around the store with his bag in his hand feeling kind of lost. He wondered, was he supposed to just take whatever he wanted and walk out?

Probably. But the whole idea of taking stuff without paying for it made him feel too weird.

Zack thought that if he hadn't been pretty wealthy at this point of his life, he'd probably have wanted to consider moving here just for the fact that he didn't have to pay for anything. It was almost a Utopian dream come true, except for the fact that no one was very friendly (Mark was okay), and he could only imagine how much the people here would freak at an outsider actually trying to come and live here. Not that he would likely be able to actually find any real estate for sale here.

As Zack walked around, he saw that the store was normal in a number of traditional ways, and not so much in others.

They had a deli counter, a meat counter, a very well stocked produce section, and even a florist with a decent selection. Again, Zack had to note that he was certain not all of these flowers came from the area.

Nothing was carried in any brand name whatsoever. The chips, for example, had a good variety, but they were in blank brown chip bags that had the names written on them. It was the same for any other merchandise in the store whether it was jelly, canned food, cleaning supplies, or anything else.

_No way._ Zack thought. _No way was all of this stuff was solely produced here in this small town_. They were kidding to try and make everyone on the outside think such. They _must _have ships coming in and bringing them stuff, Zack thought. That's the only way he could figure it out. But the question was, why? And why would they lie about it?

Zack didn't quite consider himself an agnostic, but he had a very hard time believing that God would pick just one specific little town out in the middle of nowhere and make and give the people absolutely everything that they would ever need.

Zack wandered around, getting a few snacks for later and stuff he thought he might need that night.

He took several bottles of the mystery beer he had liked so much.

He felt very strange just walking out with his items, but nobody tried to stop him nor seemed to care.

The sun was on the verge of sinking just beyond the horizon for the evening. A perfect temperature with a cool breeze blowing as the sun set on the beautiful town made Zack's walk back the hotel a very pleasant experience.

He barely cared that anyone was staring at him anymore. He was tuning everyone else out by this point.

He thought about how much he would have enjoyed taking this walk with Maya and felt another stab of pain in his gut. He could feel tears once again threatening to well up in his eyes. He was pressing on, but everything still felt so different, so much less meaningful without his soul mate at his side.

He longed to be taking this walk with her, his hand in hers, as they simply walked and enjoyed the beauty of the town and each other's presences.

When he entered the 'inn,' the owners were not out in front. He half expected to see one or both of them when he entered his room, prying through his stuff. But it was empty.

He checked his belongings. No sign they had been shifted through, which surprised him, unless they had been really careful. Zack had noted the exact positioning of all his things before he'd left the room.

He locked the door and laid down on the bed.

He was exhausted, yet his mind was racing, and he didn't feel like falling asleep just yet. Outside, the sun was halfway down the horizon, and darkness was slowly beginning to overtake the town.

Zack reached over into his bag and pulled out some paperwork pertaining to the new club he was working on.

He perused it for a while and did some minor work on it, hoping to occupy himself for a bit and keep his mind off other things.

He took one of his beers and began to gulp it down. The room did not have a refrigerator, it seemed, so he would have to enjoy both now while they were cold. He was glad he had not gotten any other perishable groceries and brought them with him.

After he finished the last beer, the town was now fully dark. He returned his paperwork to his bag, sighed, and decided it was time to get some sleep. He did not check to see if people were still outside looking up at his window.

He turned out the light, stripped down to his underwear, and slipped in between the covers. At least the beds were comfortable.

As per his habit that would probably never be broken, he turned on his side and reached out to grasp invisible air.

He felt so empty.

How he would have given anything to have had his wife in his arms right now.

He started to cry again. He took a part of his blankets, bunched them up, and pulled them close to himself as he began to fantasize he _was_ holding her again, but it was just not the same.

Eventually he slipped into a slumber where he started to dream about her again. They were together again just like they used to be when the world was a much better place. These dreams came off and on throughout his slumber until the nightmare started up again.


	5. Archimedes Demarion

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 4: Archimedes Demarion**

_The meteor was shooting across the sky again. The sky was lit up in a blaze. The viewpoint within the dream switched constantly. Sometimes he was seeing the side of the meteor as it was hurling down to Earth, and sometimes he was seeing from the point of view of the meteor itself. Sometimes it would cut back to a view of the lighthouse, its light moving rapidly around in a circle amidst the turbulent waters._

_The lighthouse... he was certain this was the lighthouse of Fetch Rock. It was no longer defunct. Now it had come to life. But it was not some ship in peril the lighthouse was reaching out to. It had no intent of reaching out to any human being and saving them from the harsh storm that surrounded the island. _

_It was the meteor... the lighthouse was beckoning the meteor. It was its guiding light, showing it exactly where it needed to land. The meteor seemed to screech as it plummeted towards the earth. It would make impact soon..._

(1)

Zack awoke with a start to someone POUNDING on the door. At first he had thought that the pounding must have been a part of his dream, but as he began to gather his wits about him, he realized that the pounding was real, and it was just that that had woken him.

"Just a minute!" he said, groggily.

He jumped out of bed and started quickly pulling his clothes on.

More pounding.

"I said just a minute!" The pounding stopped.

He was getting agitated. He glanced over at the antique clock on the night table next to his bed. It was four past seven.

The heck was someone bothering him at this time in the morning?

He opened the door to see a much older, well-dressed man standing there in black pants, white shirt, and a high quality looking tan jacket. Actually, Zack had to nearly do a double take. The man appeared to certainly be around his 70s or 80s, but for some odd reason he couldn't explain, he didn't seem that old at all. Zack got an almost youthful vibe from him. And this was all before the man actually spoke.

He was tall, balding, with a slightly trimmed yet lengthy, wispy gray beard that went down almost past his neck. He presented an almost an imposing figure, though Zack couldn't quite place his finger on exactly why.

"Good morning!" he said cheerfully as he smiled warmly and reached out to shake Zack's hand.

His voice was deep and elegant. Zack noted that if this guy were a character in a movie, he'd probably be played by Christopher Lee.

"Good morning." Zack said, cautiously reaching out to shake the man's hand.

"I am Archimedes Demarion, the mayor of Fetch Rock!" the man introduced himself.

"Oh." Zack said, still fighting off his grogginess. "Right. Glad to meet you. I wanted to talk to you. Though I didn't expect it to be this early."

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to wake you so early. It's just that Mary downstairs informed me you went to bed around nine last night and I figured you'd be up and about by now."

Zack blinked again. The hell did they know when he went to bed? Had they been standing outside his room and watching for his light to go out? It wouldn't have surprised him. Or were they actually spying on him by some other means inside the room?

But Demarion was right. He HAD gone to bed somewhere around nine. Which meant he'd slept ten hours for some reason. No wonder he felt so lethargic.

"No, no. It's okay. I think I slept too much anyways."

"I am sorry, all the same." Archimedes apologized again. "I trust you are having a pleasant stay in our beautiful town?"

"You mean aside from the fact that everyone here acts like I just walked in from a leper colony?"

"Ah, you must forgive them. It is so rare to have outsiders here. They are just not used to it. You must give them time. So, you are Zack Martin, the husband of the young lady who went missing around here?"

"Yes."

"My condolences. Words cannot describe how I understand your loss. I lost my wife only five years back."

"You're right. Words can't describe it."

"I hope you find her. I really do." Archimedes said consolingly.

"So, you want to hurry and tell me why she's not here and why I should leave town yesterday?" Zack said pointedly.

"Oh, no! I did not come to do that! I want you to stay! We have such a lovely, beautiful town here. You are welcome to stay as long as you like!"

This surprised Zack. Someone in this town, the mayor no less, who actually _wanted _him to stay? Maybe he was still dreaming.

"Now, I cannot allow you to go walking around town just anywhere you'd like. We area _very_ private community. We do not have anything to hide, I give you the utmost assurance, but you do have to understand our position."

Zack did not understand his position. If there was nothing to hide, why act like there was something to hide? But Zack kept his mouth shut.

"I will tell you, however, that we most definitely have not seen your wife anywhere in this town at any point. She did not come here. I really do hope you find your wife, but I can assure you Fetch Rock will be a dead end. However, I really hope you enjoy the town and stay as long as you need to in order to get your business taken care of."

"Well, all I know is my wife's car was found on a road that was coming from a fork which leads to this town, and you have to understand _my_ position in that I cannot disregard any lead I haven't personally checked out thoroughly." Zack said.

"Well noted." Archimedes replied, still with a warm smile. "Please, do have a good look around town today. We cannot allow you into the restricted areas, but do go around and investigate to your heart's content. Talk to the locals. The people here are actually very warm and friendly once you get to know them, they are just very wary right now because no one actually knows you. When you live in a community where everyone knows everyone and rarely has to deal with outsiders, we are like a great big family. You are not a part of the family, which is why everyone is reacting the way they are. But if you stick around for a while, they'll warm up to you, I'm certain."

Zack thought about the waitress in the restaurant. "Yeah, we'll see." he said, not believing it.

"I would also like to personally invite you over to my house tonight for dinner. We will be serving lamb tonight. We can sit and chat and you can tell me where you come from and what it's like and I can fill you in on the history of our magnificent town, and answer all the questions you like!" Archimedes offered.

"I would like that." Zack said.

"Then it's settled! Tonight at 8 PM sharp! My house is the white one on the small hill near the north entrance to the town. Surely you saw it on your way in?"

"I know which one you're talking about." Zack confirmed.

"Excellent! So I'll see you then?"

"8 PM sharp." Zack said.

"Very good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an incredibly busy day ahead that I must start tending to immediately."

Zack and Archimedes said their farewells, and Archimedes left and headed down the stairs.

Zack couldn't imagine what might constitute a busy day in a sleepy little town like this.

He sighed and closed the door.

He didn't feel any better now than when he'd woken up. He wasn't sure why he had slept so long. Maybe he was more mentally fatigued than he realized.

Well, he had a long day ahead of him himself, so he felt he'd better get to it. He took a shower, shaved, and got himself ready for the day. First item of business, it was off to get some breakfast before beginning his investigations around the town.

(2)

Zack locked his door and proceeded downstairs. When he got to the foyer, Mary, who was doing some work at the desk, greeted Zack warmly, which surprised him.

"Did you have a good sleep last night, sir?" she asked with a beaming smile.

"Uh... yeah. It was very pleasant. Maybe a little too pleasant. I overslept a bit."

"Well, I'm very glad you're enjoying your stay at Fetch Rock. Please do enjoy the rest of your day." she said graciously.

"Will do. Thanks." Zack said, a little too caught off guard to know what to think.

Just last night she had been completely cold and rude. Now she was acting sweet and friendly. Why? Had Archimedes put her up to it?

As he stepped outside, her husband was out front working on the lawn.

He saw Zack and immediately gave him a beaming smile and a friendly wave.

He came over and reached out his hand to shake Zack's.

"I do apologize for last night. It's just we weren't expecting any visitors and were rather caught off guard, is all. Did you have a good rest last night?"

"Yes, I did." Zack said, once again a little surprised.

"Well, that's good to hear. Remember, if you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask Mary or me. Our house is your house! My name's Jerry!"

"Well, thanks for the info. It's nice to meet you Jerry." Zack said, shaking his hand.

"My pleasure!" Jerry beamed.

Jerry went back to his work. Zack walked away feeling more certain than ever that something fishy was up. Unless everyone in the town was afflicted with multiple personality disorder, Archimedes had surely put them up to it.

But why? Were they trying to divert his suspicion? If anything, he was now more suspicious than ever.

Zack passed by a number of people on his walk through the town. They did not stop nor stare this time. Rather, they did not even look in his direction. It was quite clear they were trying very hard to pay him no attention at all.

(3)

Everybody cast a glance in Zack's direction when he walked into the restaurant, then quickly turned away and went back to their conversations, ignoring him.

The waitress/hostess looked no more pleased to see him than the last time. However, she was obviously trying very hard to be polite. She even produced a menu without Zack having to ask for it.

Zack ordered over easy eggs with hash browns and bacon and coffee to drink.

At some point, Mark came over and clapped Zack on the back.

"Is everything going better today?" he asked with a smile.

"Well, everyone's being less weird about me being here."

"They'll get used to you. So, did you talk with the mayor?"

"Yes. I met him this morning. He came up to meet me at my room. I'm having dinner at his house tonight."

"Excellent!" Mark said, pleased. "You will enjoy talking with Archimedes. Such a warm, brilliant man! I don't know what Fetch Rock would be without him!"

"So, how long has Archimedes been mayor here?" Zack asked.

The question seemed to catch Mark off guard.

"Oh, he's been mayor for a very long time. We don't tend to change leaders until the current one dies. Our last leader passed away, oh, I can't remember the year. Heart attack, I think. But Archimedes has been with us for a very long time."

"So, what is the criteria for choosing a new mayor when the old one passes away? If you don't do elections like any normal town?"

"Oh, we do elections." Mark said. "Everyone in town votes to select a new leader based off who would be the most qualified."

"Doesn't that cause fighting if more than one person thinks they're qualified?"

"Oh, we don't have the same issues here that everyone else in the world is plagued by. We're all family here. Everything we do is dedicated towards the greater good."

"The greater good?"

"Yes, of the town. That's all anyone wants. For Fetch Rock to remain peaceful and prosperous. You know, this town wasn't always so well off. But you will surely hear more about that when you talk to Archimedes."

Eventually Zack's food came and Mark left him alone.

In some strange way, Zack was beginning to feel like this town was growing on him. He could kind of begin to understand how everyone here probably felt about it. It _was_ a very solid community, more so than any other community he'd ever seen before.

Everything about this town was so different than anywhere else. Zack began to wonder if there really was a conspiracy like any of the ones that were rolling through his mind.

But he knew not to let his guard down. If there was something going on in this place, Archimedes would want to disarm him and make him begin to think he'd been wrong in suspecting this town might have played any part in his wife's disappearance.

But at the same time, wasn't he doing these people an injustice by not giving them the benefit of the doubt?

Zack still didn't believe for a second that their God actually "provided everything they needed."

But at the same time, maybe there was a reasonable explanation as to why they made such a claim. Zack didn't know what to think. He was feeling conflicted. He finished up his meal, had a second cup of coffee, and headed out to begin his investigations around town.

(4)

There was something else about this town that was wrong, but Zack couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He wandered around for a bit, trying to pinpoint exactly what it was.

One thing for certain was how calm the town was. There were never more than a few people out and about in one area at any given time. The people here had cars, but Zack only saw one or two being used the whole time.

It was all so quiet.

Quiet... that's one of the things that was wrong with this town.

Zack hadn't actually seen more than a few kids all day, and they were always with their parents.

It was Saturday. Wouldn't children normally be playing outside? Zack was pretty certain Fetch Rock didn't have all the distractions of modern forms of entertainment such as TVs, movies, video games, and the internet that normally kept children inside nowadays, therefore it stood to reason the children of the town would be spending their time outside playing. It was certainly a very beautiful day.

Yet they weren't. In all of Zack's walking, he hadn't seen a park nor any indication that there was a park anywhere in this town.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen a schoolhouse either. Was it unobvious like everything else? Or were all the children homeschooled?

Zack walked through the countryside on the outskirts of the town. Again, there were certainly no farms with animals here. If they had their own self-sustained economy, how _were_ they doing it? The improbability made him more suspicious of the town than anything else.

His walk took him back around and then through the town where he walked along the coastal line and poked around the port.

There were a few warehouses that didn't _look _like they were in use. No boats in site whatsoever. It looked like it really hadn't been used in ages. But they had to be getting supplies to the town somehow. Zack knew it. He just wasn't sure how they were doing it or why they felt they needed to keep it a secret.

The lighthouse on the small island loomed ahead. Zack thought about his dream about the meteor and the lighthouse that he'd had right before waking up this morning. That had been weird, though he was certain the dreams couldn't really be tied to anything. He had no reason to believe that at all. It was simply an odd coincidence.

Zack took his binoculars out of the pouch he had strapped to his right hip and used them to take a closer look at the lighthouse.

The scene didn't look right. The lighthouse was supposed to have been derelict for around a hundred years, but the light was wrong, he noted that part instantly.

Now, Zack wasn't an expert on lighthouses by any means, but he knew a little about them due to one of his nightclub themes.

For something a hundred years old that hadn't been used in a very long time, he'd expected to see something like a Fresnel lens. But he was looking at an aerodrome lens, which had only started coming into use in recent times. Very out of place for the time period where it was supposed to have gone out of use. Maybe the townspeople _were _lying.

Zack turned and walked back towards the town. There was one more thing he wanted to check for sure. He looked at his watch. It was almost noon and he was getting hungry again. He was also getting tired from all the walking he'd been doing. He thought after his next stop, he'd grab some lunch and maybe crash at the hotel room for the rest of the day until meeting Archimedes.

(5)

He could see the police station, or what he thought was the police station based on what he'd been told. It was right down the road. However -

_"...you don't take the fourth, 'cause you don't go near the municipal building. That's off limits to outsiders. You go up to the fifth street and go 'round till you come to the station. Or you take the third."_

So he had to walk all the way around? He wondered what was in the municipal building that was so private. He was suspicious of it the most. He would have loved to get inside and take a good, long, look. He would have not been so suspicious of it if not for that cryptic warning.

He glanced around. There was no one around. Not even on the streets. He looked closely at the windows. Nobody was watching him.

He didn't see why he had to walk all the way around. He thought he'd walk fast. He'd be at the police station before anyone saw him. He took a deep breath and started a fast walk.

But they walked faster. It seemed like they came out of nowhere and were upon him instantly. Five men, all bigger than him. Zack was surprised by them, and the only thing he could think of was that he could have sworn they must have been hiding this entire time and waiting for him to make this move.

"Where do you think you're going?" the man in front of him in a cold, harsh tone.

"Uh... the police station?" Zack said, his adrenaline spiking. He wasn't intimidated by these people, just caught off guard. He'd been through worse. That drug dealer and his goons that had shown up at his club, for example. But he was still in full mode caution alert. Were these people about to try to assault him? Zack wasn't certain.

"You do not take this road." the man in front of him said, matter-of-factly. "You go the next street up," he said, pointing. "And you take that around and arrive at the station. Or the next street down, same thing. We don't have outsiders going anywhere near the municipal building.

"Why? Got something to hide?" Zack said in a confrontational tone.

_'Yeah. Real smart, Zack.' _he thought._ 'Get all these people against you. You still don't know all they're capable of.'_

But it was so hard to just let this go. He was pissed. He had lost his wife. All he wanted was some answers. These people were acting like they had something to hide. As far as he was concerned, when it came to his loss, he had a right to know.

"Now you listen to me real carefully, city boy." the man in front of him said, every word he spoke punctuated with a harsh tone. He had a look to him like he could have chewed Zack up, spit him on the ground, and trampled him underfoot. "This is OUR community. We have a right to our privacy. You come here, you obey our rules while you're here, you understand? You don't question. You just mind your own business as long as it doesn't interfere with our rules. If you can't do that, you can leave."

"I'm just trying to find my wife! If you want me to leave faster, you could help me find out what I need to know!" Zack shot back at him, raising his own voice to match the man's.

"We don't know nothin' 'bout your wife! Several people have told you that already! You're wasting your time here! There's nothing to find here, and I don't care what Archimedes says to you or tells us to do or not to do, you're not welcome."

"And I'm not leaving until I make certain she was never here!" Zack said, getting up to the man's face. The man did not back down.

"Listen, the only reason you're allowed to wander around our town is because you're on grace. If you make our patience wear out, you won't be here anymore." the head man said.

Zack was so angry he could have punched this guy's lights out. That wouldn't have been smart, though. He was surrounded, and he couldn't take out all of them. Heck, he wouldn't even be able to take down just the guy in front of him. The guy was huge and very well-muscled. Zack tried to get his temper under control and willed himself to calm down.

"Fine. You win. I'll go the other way. But you know what? I think she WAS here. I think she found something that you all found inconvenient. What happens when I do, too? You gonna kill me, too?"

"Your wife was never here. Now go around." the man said.

"You're gonna have to let me out first." Zack said, indicating the circle of men that was surrounding him.

The big man nodded, and the circle opened to let him out. Zack stormed off back the direction he'd came.

"If there's something going on here, I'm gonna find out, so you might as well kill me now!" he yelled back at them as he walked away. He didn't look back as he walked. He knew they were watching him closely. He looked around and saw people peering out their windows.

He knew he shouldn't have antagonized them like that. But he was furious.

He had time to calm down, though, as he walked up toward the next street took it around. As he walked, he realized that he wasn't really mad at this town or these people. He _was_ an outsider, and he probably could give them the benefit of the doubt that they were just wary of him and had a right to their privacy. But it still really bugged him.

It wasn't fair! He didn't want much! He just wanted his wife returned safely to him. He would have given anything. This place was his only lead. He was desperate.

Eventually, he came around to where the police station was supposed to be. The station, again, was not obvious. It did not look like any sort of police station. It didn't look much different from other buildings in this town. He noted that he didn't even see a police car as he walked up.

He hoped this was the right building, sighed, and entered.

(6)

There was only one person inside when Zack entered. When he saw Zack, his eyes grew big and his face paled.

"Oh... uh, you must be... can I help you?"

Zack couldn't help but feel like he was talking to a clone of Don Knotts. The look and voice of the guy suited it. Zack would have found this hilarious if he were in a better mood.

"Are you the sheriff?" Zack asked.

"Oh, no... I… I'm just the deputy. I'll get him. OLLIE!"

He screamed so loud Zack jumped a little.

A second later, the sheriff, a big guy who looked like he was in his 40s with black hair came around the corner.

"For Pete's sake, Thomas, you don't have to be s... oh." Ollie stopped short at the site of Zack. "I was wonderin' when you'd drop by."

Zack shrugged.

"So I guess we can skip the BS then and get right to the point?"

Ollie came forward to shake his hand.

"That would probably make things a bit easier on both of us." he said, displaying no noticeable emotion whatsoever.

He shook Zack's hand. "Ollie Williams."

Zack thought it was funny how he felt it would be more appropriate if Thomas's and Ollie's names were reversed.

"Zack Martin."

"Well, Mr. Martin, I'll tell you the exact same thing I told the county police from the other town when they came down here. We have not seen your wife, nor do we have any possible clues that could possibly provide any indication about her whereabouts."

"Her car was found on the road coming from this town." Zack started for the umpteenth time since he'd been in this town. This conversation that he was having nonstop since arriving in town was getting redundant. But Zack refused to let up. He would not let up until he got an answer out of someone, if there was one to get.

"Her car was found near the _fork _where the road diverges coming from the interstate and this town." Ollie clarified.

"I never said exactly where her car was found."

"I've already covered this with the Qunicy police, so I know exactly where the car was found." Ollie said, with no visible change in his face.

_'Darn it.' _Zack thought. He'd been hoping to trip Ollie up with that question.

"Her car door was open. Her stuff was left inside. Like she was running from something." Zack said.

"Or perhaps she had car trouble and wandered off to find some help. It happens from time to time." Ollie suggested.

"I called the mechanic in Quincy where they towed her car. He said it was in perfect working condition. I also checked with all the mechanics in all the towns nearest to this area. Not one has seen anyone matching her description."

"Well, then, I have no explanation for you." Ollie said with a shrug.

"You know, the only thing that makes me really suspicious about this town is that I've never been to a more unfriendly town in my life." Zack said. "I got accosted outside the municipal building. I thought I was going to have the crap beaten out of me for a second!"

No change of emotion in Ollie's face. "Well, it's off limits to outsiders."

"It really does make me wonder, did Maya see whatever's in there?"

Ollie hung his head and sighed impatiently.

"Zack," he said tiredly. "You _have_ to understand, this is a very community centered town. You aren't part of the community and you aren't allowed to see certain things because you're an outsider. It's not about having something to hide. It's just that we have a right to keep to ourselves. Everyone here is like one great, big family. Everyone knows each other. You are not family. You are a stranger. It makes us uncomfortable."

"I have a right to find out what happened to my wife!"

"You won't find your wife here! She was never here! Your search is at a dead end in this town." Ollie said sharply.

"I'm not trying to invade your privacy or personal business. I just want to be absolutely certain." Zack continued to press in.

"You're going to meet with the mayor tonight, right? Listen to what he says. He'll set your mind right about everything."

"I'll be the judge of that."

Zack was not getting anywhere with this conversation. He ended up thanking Ollie and Thomas for their "trouble" taking time out of their "busy schedules" to talk to him. That was sarcasm, of course, but he managed to feign a polite act when he said it. He left and made sure to take the long way around the municipal building.

It was so frustrating. He felt like he'd gotten nowhere. Why had he bothered coming down here in the first place, he had to start to wonder?

Yet, there was nothing else he could have done. His wife was missing. This was the only lead he had. Even if she had never been here and he was wasting his time, he owed this investigation to himself. But he felt like he had been stopped cold at every turn. The townspeople were all unwilling to help him, and there was nothing that could be proven at all.

He really wanted to get inside that municipal building and see what was in there. Heck, he'd like to get inside all these buildings and see just what the inner workings of this town were really like. He thought briefly about sneaking into the municipal building. No, bad idea. The way he'd been accosted outside of it - there had seemed to be no one around! Then they had appeared out of nowhere. It was almost as they had been hiding and waiting for him.

He understood that this was an unusual town and it was a logical explanation that the townspeople could simply be wary of outsiders and would want to protect their privacy, but still, he couldn't shake the feeling that something truly fishy was going on. Maybe he was only imagining it, maybe it was just because of how weird this town was. But he just didn't know.

As he walked, he turned towards the lighthouse again. He thought about his dream again.

(7)

Zack stood at the front door of Archimedes Demarion's residence. He knocked once, waited a few minutes, and then knocked once more. Zack had half expected he would have barely knocked the first time before Archimedes would have opened the door immediately, having been standing there waiting for him the entire time.

Archimedes' place was one of the most beautiful places in the entire town. It was as if a mansion from a hundred years ago had been sized down to the size of a quaint and slightly larger than normal small town residence.

Zack was here at 8 PM sharp, just like he'd said. His watch read 8:01. He remembered how when he'd been a teenager he'd never been punctual for anything. It had always driven Cody crazy. Today, however, was most certainly a day for punctuality. He was on a mission.

Archimedes did not answer the door personally, but the door was answered by a young woman who was obviously a maid or something along those lines. She greeted him, but did not show any emotion behind it at all. She led him through the house into what seemed to be a sitting room. It was very nicely decorated. Everything looked to be antique, though all of it looked just as new as if it had recently been bought fresh from the furniture store. The couch was extremely comfy. There was an ornate rug beneath his feet, spreading underneath the couch. A coffee table sat in front of him. There was a piano sitting next to the window off to the right of the couch, which faced out the back. There were some pictures on the wall, but only portraits of old men Zack didn't recognize. Probably former town leaders, he guessed.

Archimedes came in at about 8:10 and greeted him very enthusiastically.

"Zack!" he said, warmly extending his hand. Zack, being polite, stood up and shook it.

"8 PM sharp." Zack said.

"Indeed! Very sorry to have kept you waiting. It's been a very busy day for me."

"What exactly DOES constitute having a busy day in a sleepy town like this?" Zack asked him.

"You would be surprised." Archimedes responded, giving him no further answer than that.

Archimedes ushered Zack into the dining room where their meal was already prepared. The girl who'd let him in along with another person were in the dining room and attended to Zack and Archimedes' every need while they talked. Archimedes introduced them as the volunteer caretakers of the place.

"Everyone in this town is a willful volunteer. To be clear, if you want to live in this town, you have to volunteer somewhere. Everyone must contribute to the greater good of the community they live in. It's part of our religion. But we never hold anyone's arm over the fire and force them to do something specific. Whenever there's a specific need available, people choose it as they feel led."

Zack chewed the strange metaphor over in his head for a moment as he and Archimedes dug into their food and made introductory small talk. The food was very good. But Zack was not here for the food, nor was he in any mood for anything other than getting right to the point. Archimedes was all smiles and small talk, but Zack wasn't in the mood for it.

"Archimedes, let's get down to it and cut the BS from the get go. Now, I understand that you and the people that live in this town want to protect your privacy. I understand that. However, you must understand how everything seems so suspicious from the point of view of someone like me. I nearly got accosted walking down the wrong street earlier today. Everyone acts like they've got something to hide, _really_ got something to hide, and that I'd better not go down the wrong path nor do anything I'm not supposed to. And all this about your Lord providing for you? We both know that isn't true. How are you getting supplies? Ships? Why do you and the townspeople feel the need to lie about that? Do you really think that a big city boy like me is going to buy all of that and not feel suspicious?"

Archimedes waited until Zack was done. Then he spoke calmly, and clearly, enunciating every syllable perfectly. His voice was not defensive, but one of understanding.

"I can understand why someone like you who comes from the outside world where you have science, knowledge, and technological advancement could not believe in the miracles that are at the center of our faith. I understand completely. I would not expect you to believe us when we say that everything we receive indeed comes from our God. In fact, I would be shocked if you believed such a thing outright. But you must understand, regardless as to whether you, as an outsider, consider it valid or not, doesn't automatically make it untrue."

"So, you say that God has looked down upon you and has taken special favor on you as opposed to anywhere else in the world?" Zack challenged him.

"Our founders wanted a special place where they could worship our God without the interference of the wicked and corrupt world around them. They wanted to separate themselves completely, give themselves over fully to the worship of our God, be different, and become closer to God. However, under normal circumstances, it is completely impossible for a single town or a group of people to stand alone from dependence on the outside world in today's day and age, as you can well guess. God, however, looked down upon the hearts of the people and took pity upon them. You cannot believe a thing we claim because you come from a world of logic and statistics and you don't believe in miracles. Our God works miracles in our midst. It is His way of honoring us for desiring to keep ourselves separate from the rest of the world."

"And the gas station I pulled into? You don't bring trucks in from anywhere else to fill it?"

"Our supply never runs out!" Archimedes said.

"Except for in your vehicles."

Archimedes waved it off. "It wouldn't matter anyways. There isn't really much need to have vehicles."

"And food, water, beer, groceries, supplies, all come from where?"

"Some stuff we do make on our own. It is simply out of a desire to use the works and gifts of our hands to contribute something to the community. God honors that. As for the rest, our God simply provides them for us."

"Exactly how does that work?"

"These are things of which outsiders like you are not permitted to share in nor be aware of."

"Because I come from the outside world or because of my lack of faith?"

"Yes!" Archimedes said, smiling.

"I may not be much of a person of faith," Zack said. "But I've never really disbelieved in God. Why can't He provide for me the way He does for you?"

"You do not need God to survive like we do. We have truly separated ourselves from the outside world and cut off all ties with it. You still live in the world and have the world to help you survive. We require special help."

"So, you're really not going to fess up that what you're feeding me is a whole bunch of bull?"

The servants were loitering around the room, watching both of them intently, as if they were hanging onto every word of this conversation. Archimedes paid them no mind.

"Those who do not have eyes to see cannot see." Archimedes said pointedly.

"And you're going to tell me it's because of my own lack of faith that I'm not allowed to go certain places in the town or see inside certain buildings."

"It is in your best interest not to see."

"Because?" Zack pressed.

"Because your lack of faith has left you blind. Blindness is a willful thing. As long as you are blind, you cannot stand up against the light of truth."

"That doesn't explain a damn thing!"

"There is nothing for you to see, Zack. Your wife was never here."

"I wish I could have that proven for a fact."

"Even if I were to let you search inside every building, scour every square inch of this town, you would doubtless have cause to be one hundred percent satisfied."

"I'd like to be the judge of that!"

Archimedes leaned forward.

"Okay, Zack, let's say there _is _some sort of conspiracy going on. Let's say your wife _did _come here and learned some great, big, horrible, dark, terrible secret. Let's say we killed her because of it. Let's say we've been lying to you this entire time. How would you ever know? How could you ever prove it? We could have taken her body and tossed it in the ocean. It would not have been hard. We could have burned it and cremated it into ashes and dumped them somewhere no one will find. Even if we didn't, we could have buried her body anywhere. We could have done any of these things and more, and you would never know about it nor be able to ever prove it. Oh, don't get that look on your face. I can assure, no such thing did actually occur. I'm simply making a point. The point is that if anything did happen, you wouldn't be able to prove it, no matter how much you looked or how hard you tried."

Zack lowered his head. Archimedes was right. But still.

"I can understand your point. But I just can't let this go very easily."

"Zack, I feel sorry for you. I truly do." Archimedes said, speaking more softly now. "After losing my own wife, I know exactly what you are going through. But I cannot help you. I truly cannot. Your wife was never in this town. None of us ever saw her. If we'd had, we would have cooperated as much as we possibly could."

"I have one more question." Zack asked, looking Archimedes in the eyes. "You don't ever use that lighthouse, correct?"

"No. We have no need for it." Archimedes said.

"And no one has used it for a very long time, correct?"

"It was used once a very long time ago. But not in many decades."

"You would say it's over a hundred years old, right?"

"Far more than that. It's a relic."

"Then what's it doing with an aerodrome lens? Those have only started coming into use in recent times. If it's as old as you say, shouldn't it be using a Fresnal lens?"

Zack caught something in Archimedes's eyes. Just briefly, but it was there. Or maybe he imagined it. He thought, for a split second, just maybe he had caught him off guard.

"What you say is a curiosity. I know nothing about that."

"If that lighthouse is really that old and not in use today, it should not have an aerodrome lens."

Archimedes waved him off again. "You must forgive me, I know next to nothing about lighthouses. Not important to this town or our way of life."

"So, you don't know why something that's over a hundred years old has something so modern?"

"It was like that from the time I remember growing up as a child here. As far as I know, it's been that way for a very long time. There hasn't been any construction on it. It hasn't even been touched."

"And yet the lens is something way ahead of its time."

"It is a curiosity." Archimedes said. "About that topic I really cannot say."

It was hard to tell if Archimedes was telling the truth or lying.

"Let me ask you another question." Zack said.

Archimedes shrugged with his palms open. "Go ahead."

Zack briefly noted that Archimedes had a very noticeable scar slashed across on his right hand. From the look of it, it appeared it might be fairly recent.

"If this was a community that was trying to separate itself from the rest of the world, then why was that lighthouse built in the first place?"

"Ah!" Archimedes said. "That I do have an answer for. It is true that we separated from the outside world and our Lord had already started providing for us long before the lighthouse started being built. But there came at one point a leader over the town who decided to compromise with the world.

"'Progression,' as he called it. He created the lighthouse because he wanted to start bringing in things from the outside world, things not provided for us by our God, things that were tainted by the touch of the outside world. He had a more faithless agenda to begin leading us away from what our God had set up, and he wanted to slowly start turning the town away from what it had originally been created to be.

"The lighthouse did not last long, however. Oliver Drake, James Wolf, and Robert Shaw were the men who were manning the lighthouse. Things went smoothly for the first month. Then, all three suddenly vanished without a trace. A ship crashed into our harbor, and a fire started that nearly consumed the entire town. Yes, our God was visiting His wrath upon us for trying to fraternize with the outside world. A group of townspeople who had not turned their hearts away from God prayed for forgiveness and mercy. God looked down in forgiveness, and the fire went out just like that. The bodies of the mayor and those who had turned away from God perished in the fire. The bodies of Oliver, Drake, and Robert were never found. The lighthouse has been abandoned ever since."

"You do understand that's difficult for me to believe." Zack said.

"Of course." Archimedes said. "As I said before, I'd be surprised if you did outright."

"I still don't understand how there is an aerodrome lens inside of there."

Archimedes shrugged.

"Maybe our Lord put it there."

"Your Lord modernized something you will never use, something He might inflict severe punishment upon your town if you ever use again?"

"The Lord's ways are not our ways. Many of His ways and the things He does are still a mystery to us."

Zack wanted to push farther, but he knew with this run around that was the most satisfactory answer he would end up getting.

Zack sighed and asked his next question.

"Would it be all right with you if I went out there and took a look inside the lighthouse?"

Archimedes looked at him curiously.

"And you would want to do that because...?"

"Clues? Morbid curiosity?" Zack said, as if it should be obvious.

Archimedes shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Nobody has been out there in many decades. It may be dangerous. I would not want to risk having your blood on my hands."

"I hardly think it could be _that _dangerous." Zack retorted. "It's just a lighthouse. You could take me over there. We could examine that aerodrome lens together."

"If you are thinking you will find your wife out there, you are wasting your time. If she had been in this town, or especially if she would have gone into the lighthouse, we would have known."

"This place is the only lead I have and I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet!" Zack said, slamming his hand down on the table.

"Zack..." Archimedes said with a tired sigh. "I really know how bad you want to find out the truth. But I swear, I swear! This town has nothing to do with it. You will not find anything else here. If you want my advice, simply go home, or search someplace else. I do not know what happened to your wife, but I will pray that you will find her. I don't know what else I have to say to you to make you understand that you will not find her here. There is nothing else I have to tell you on this matter! Listen, I'm telling you this for your own good, go back to your room, get some rest. Wake up refreshed in the morning, an..."

But he didn't have time to finish his sentence. The door opened, and one of the caretakers came in with Ollie Williams.

Ollie caught sight of Zack and flashed him a weak smile. But to Archimedes, it was a little grimmer.

"I'm afraid we have a situation, remember what we were talking about earlier? It's happening again."

Zack carefully studied Archimedes's face. It registered no change of emotions.

"Just a simple matter, Ollie, can you not handle it yourself until I'm done with my guest?"

"They want to speak with you, sir. It's urgent."

"Well, then." Archimedes said, standing up from the table. "A mayor's work is never done."

Zack wondered if this would be his cue to leave. Archimedes looked at him and said, "Oh, don't worry about leaving yet. This matter will not take long. I still would like to talk with you some more. I just need ten minutes."

"I can wait." Zack said.

"I shall not be long."

With that Archimedes left with Ollie, and Zack was left with the caretakers. Zack poked at his meal while he waited. The caretakers made no eye contact with him whatsoever nor seemed like they were in the slightest bit interested in making conversation with him, although they continued to watch him out of the corner of their eyes warily.

They did not stick around in the room long, though. They both exited off to do other tasks, apparently not feeling it worthwhile enough to keep a total eye on him. Zack could hear them moving around upstairs, so he was certain they were not spying on him in the general area. Zack took his chance. He got out of his seat and looked around the room. Nothing of interest caught his eye specifically. He went back through the door which led to the study. Zack ideally wanted to poke around through everything. Of course, he couldn't, since he didn't have much time, nor could he go very far into the house, since he would run into the caretakers no doubt.

Zack walked over to the bookshelf and began perusing through Archimedes' books. He wondered just what kind of books that the mayor of a place like this might read.

The books were old, obviously, just as much as anything else in this house, but he saw they were in perfect condition. When he would open one, it had that wonderful old book smell to it, yet it would be in perfect shape. The books were nothing special, though ironically, a little hypocritical in Zack's eyes.

Very old tomes on science, history, biology, philosophy, world religions, even a few on Christian theologies. He saw Emmanuel Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell, which he was surprised to find was written in the original Latin, along with other such works. Zack thought briefly about how Cody would have salivated over this bookshelf.

For a place that was supposed to be separated from the "corrupted, faithless world" around them, these books were nothing but a collection of all the different ideas that made up the larger world around them. What exactly were these doing here?

Zack picked up another book and opened it. And this was where he lucked out. He was very surprised to find that something had been placed in the middle of the book. He was even more shocked at what it was.

It was a thin CD case with a CD inside. It appeared to be a type of writeable CD. There was nothing written on the CD that might indicate what it was, but what was obviously a company name, HADDEN, stuck out in bold, printed black letters on the disk.

Zack wondered if Archimedes Demarion actually owned a computer. Did anyone here? Zack wouldn't have thought it possible. But what was something like this doing here, and why was it hidden?

This could be what he was looking for. Zack was not about to hesitate to look a gift horse in the mouth. He took the CD and stuffed it into a pocket that was hidden inside his jacket. He quickly put the book back and returned to the dining room and took his seat again to make it appear as if nothing had happened since Archimedes had left.

Twenty minutes after he'd left, Archimedes returned.

"I do apologize for that." he said. "A mayor's work is never done."

Zack wanted to ask him what was up but thought better of it. It was none of his business, and they weren't likely to tell him.

Zack and Archimedes didn't talk that much more about Fetch Rock, the lighthouse, or Maya. Instead, it was mostly small talk. Archimedes asked pointed questions about Zack's life, where he came from, what he did, about his clubs, and other topics like that.

Archimedes seemed a warm and smooth conversationalist. Several times Zack wondered if he'd really been right or wrong about the man and this place. But Zack was still suspicious. And now he had that disc. That disc might tell him a few things that could be helpful.

Eventually, Archimedes asked him the question that had most certainly been on the tip of his mind the entire time.

"So, how much longer are you planning on staying with us? Have I satisfied your curiosity? Or do you still have questions and plan on sticking around with us for a while yet?"

Zack did still have questions, but now was not the time to dive back into them.

"I haven't decided yet."

"Well, if you are planning on staying at least through tomorrow, why not visit our church service? It might change your perspective a bit on the ways of the town."

Zack was surprised. They would actually let him enter inside their church building? This was too good an opportunity to pass up!

Zack shrugged and pretended to be less excited than he really was.

"Why not? I can't think of much better else to do in the morning."

"Excellent!" Archimedes beamed, clapping his hands together. "We will look very forward to having you!"

Zack and Archimedes finished up their talk for the night. Archimedes gave him some food and beer to take back with him to his room.

As Zack walked back to his room, 15 minutes till curfew was slated to begin, he felt wholly unsatisfied by the conversation he'd had with Archimedes. But was he surprised?

The disc he had in his jacket pocket, though, that was his prize. For the first time he felt he had a genuine lead. He hoped he was right.

Mary and Jerry gave him a warm welcome as he entered the inn. He found their cordiality unnerving and irritating. When he entered his room, he went through his stuff looking for any tell-tale evidence of snooping, but still he could find none.

He went for one of his bags, pulled out his laptop, and switched it on. It was time to check out that disc.


	6. The Truth

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 5: The Truth**

(1)

Zack stuck the disc into his laptop and waited for the autoloader. It didn't come up, so he had to try to manually load the disc. The disc, however, didn't want to load. The computer acted as if it didn't recognize it at all. Strange. Zack tried everything he could think of. Perhaps he didn't have the right program to load it with.

Zack was not the most computer savvy person in the world, so there was little more he could do than just let it be. It wouldn't be the end of this, though.

Zack stuck another disc into another CD drive on his laptop. He used the appropriate program and copied the disc onto a burned CD. He was going to take this to New York and get Cody to look at it. Cody would surely know how to crack whatever was on the disc. The copied CD was simply insurance.

Zack stuck the original in his bag, used a marker to make a very tiny mark on the one he'd copied, then stuck it inconspicuously in his other bag with his other blank CDs.

There was nothing more he could do about the disc now. He took the beer Archimedes had sent home with him and swigged it down. He could feel the wonderful buzz coming on, but it wasn't enough. He felt like he wanted to _really_ get drunk. However, he knew that becoming totally wasted never really solved any of his problems. They were always still there the next morning, so what was the point, really?

He stripped down to his underwear, turned the light in his room out, and settled down in bed.

As usual, the overwhelming sadness came. He turned on his side and reached out for invisible air. He started crying. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep. And then he had the nightmare again.

(2)

_The meteor was falling to the Earth. The lighthouse was beckoning the meteor. There was a voice coming from the meteor. Raspy and demonic. He couldn't quite make out what it was saying, only that it seemed as if it was directed at him…_

(3)

He awoke to the sunlight streaming in the window on his face. He pulled his arm up to his face and looked at his watch. 9:15. Well, he hadn't overslept this time. He turned on his side again, not feeling yet like getting out of bed. He never felt like getting out of bed when he would first wake up anymore. Waking up first thing in the morning without Maya beside him always left him with a painful feeling in his gut.

He usually didn't cry in the mornings. He usually saved his tears for crying himself to sleep at night. He reached out and cradled invisible air once more. All he could think about was holding her. He wanted to hold her so badly. Once again, he had to face that horrible feeling he might never hold her again. God, if he could just find her, have one more chance, he would never let her go again, he swore. He would treat her better than he'd ever had. He would never raise his voice to her again. He would do his very best to never have another argument with her again. He would treat her like the priceless treasure she really had been for as long as he lived.

Eventually, he knew he was going to have to force himself to get out of bed and start getting ready for the day. He was not going to miss that church service.

(4)

As he left the boarding house, he could see Mary and Jerry were preparing to leave, too. They gave him warm smiles and greetings. Zack thought it kind of funny how compared to when he'd first arrived they and this place now seemed something resembling a kind of normal.

It was the same outside. Hardly anyone paid him any attention at all when he walked the streets now. Hardly anybody looked up when he entered his 'favorite' restaurant for some breakfast. His favorite waitress was as usual clearly not happy to see him.

"This is rather late for breakfast. You'd better hurry up and eat because we close at ten thirty." she said with a frustrated tone.

"Close? What for?"

She gave him a glare like she could kill him.

"For what else? To pay our tribute to Our Lord."

Zack looked confused for a second. Then it hit him.

"Oh! You mean church."

She rolled her eyes and then showed him to his table.

"Does everyone in town go to church on Sunday morning?" he asked her.

"You don't want to caught _not _going to church on Sunday morning. Our Lord is merciful, but he won't spare His wrath on those who disobey His holy decrees."

"What if a hardened sinner like me decides not to show up to your church on Sunday?"

"Your eternal fate is already assured. It would not matter whether you showed up to church or not."

"So, literally you guys in this town are the only ones going to heaven?"

"It is only your wicked heart that dares to ask such a question. The Lord is merciful to those who have ears to hear, He is compassionate to those who seek His will, and to those who persevere their names shall be as high as the saints until they have their place in paradise."

"But first I have to move to this place and become a monk or something?"

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" she said sharply, pointing at the ceiling, not giving him any real answer.

"You're not a very good sales rep. I keep asking questions, and you keep giving me cryptic answers."

She rolled her eyes.

"It is your hardened heart that refuses to understand."

"Or maybe my stomach. You haven't taken my order yet, and this place closes soon, right?"

She looked like she really could have gone for a nice, rusty butcher knife to gut him with. He wasn't intimidated by her in the slightest, and proceeded to place his order as if everything were normal. He wondered how long she would be able to resist sprinkling something in his food that made him sick or prove fatal.

(5)

She must not have poisoned his food, because he felt just fine. Or maybe it was one of those slow moving poisons. At any rate, after a short walk, he arrived at the church. It was not hard to find. It was placed strategically at the very center of the town. He had been able to see it before when he first entered the town and from his room, but it really was quite a huge building.

He'd not paid attention to it before because it hadn't been that big of an interest to him, even though he'd walked past it yesterday several times when he was exploring the town. It was obvious that the size of the building was meant to accommodate the entire town, and he was now slapping himself mentally for not being more curious about it in the first place. After all, this place was the very center of the town's religion. He was about to see something that few people ever got to see, and he was really not sure what it might be.

The building was very nice. It was made of gray stone with an almost gothic architectural style that Zack didn't recognize. It looked a bit like a Catholic or mainline Protestant church, except there wasn't a cross of any sort on the front nor any easily identifiable religious symbols.

It had been a very long time since he'd been in church. The few times he had been it had been for Easter or something like that. He'd rarely been to church except for a handful of times growing up. His family had never been a terribly religious family of any sort.

As unusual as this town was, though, he was looking forward to this. It would probably prove to be very interesting and illuminating.

When he stepped inside, he was immediately grabbed by what he perceived was an usher of some type and directed toward a very specific seat in a pew all by itself. He kind of wondered, were they about to put on some kind of special show for him?

After everyone had been settled in, a man came forward and began leading everyone in worship. Everyone grabbed a hymnal from the backs of the pews in front of them and opened to each song. Zack reached out and took the hymnal in front of him to try and follow along. Everyone seemed to know exactly which page each hymn was on, but Zack had to flip through and find out where they were. The worship leader mentioned the title of each hymn, but never mentioned a page nor hymn number. Apparently these people must have known the locations by heart. It made it harder for Zack to keep up.

_Protect us, O' Lord_

_From transgressions of worldly foes_

_Thousands gathering round_

_To bring thy servants down to dust_

_But unto your saving grace _

_Do we ever draw near_

_With spear and sword in hand _

_Purging thy foes_

_Exacting thine justice_

_Thy enemies falling at thine hands_

_Oh, Great and Terrible day!_

_So glorious for all the saints!_

_The foes of the Lord do not stand_

_When that day finally comes_

_Standing against the sun_

_With our Lord on our side_

_We'll ever persevere to the end_

_Till we take our place with Thee_

They sang several more along those lines.

_The wrath of the wicked comes in like a flood _

_Scorners and mockers standing before the seat of the throne_

_Thy righteous judgment delivered to the world_

_Reaped upon them their just rewards_

_No godless nation left standing_

_No worldly army left advancing_

_No Earthly king standing against your might_

_During that day _

_With the true king standing against the sun_

_O, Earth laid bare_

_The nations trembling_

_All man's worldly systems_

_Crumbling before thy wrath, oh most holy king!_

Zack's inclination in the beginning was to try and sing along with these people, try to be a part of them and show them he was not their enemy, but he couldn't even get past the first few words. He couldn't bring himself to sing lyrics so laughable and unnerving at the same time. He found himself a mixture of both amused and disturbed.

It wasn't that he had anything against religion - to each their own, he'd always felt. But he felt this stuff was only one or two levels down from the kinds of stuff he'd seen from the Westboro Baptist Church. True, these people weren't the type to go around with signs harassing other people who believed differently, but still.

Each page held a single song. Zack estimated this small hymnal held about 30 of these songs. All of them were variations of the same thing. After several songs, the man leading the worship took his seat, as did everyone else.

Archimedes Demarion took the stage fully at the podium. Zack wondered if Archimedes was the official reverend of this town as well. Just how many hats did he wear here?

There was a very large book on the pulpit. Apparently the book had a lock on it. Archimedes fished out a key from a pocket on his robe, inserted it into the book, and returned the key to his pocket before opening the book and reading from it.

He spoke, and everyone spoke along with him:

_"Our Lord, who art in Paradise_

_Hallowed be Thy Name_

_Thy Kingdom come_

_Thy justice be done_

_On Earth as it is in the universe above_

_Give us today our daily vindication_

_As we carry out Thine will_

_Protect us from the affliction of those who might raise their hand against us _

_For they trespass not just against us, but against Thine special remnant Thou hast created_

_Let us give ourselves in to all holiness and purity of form_

_Let us not resist thy will, O Lord_

_But let us give unto You and be merged wholly and eternally with You _

_Let us become One with You in Flesh and in Spirit_

_On this Earth as in Heaven_

_For Thine is the true Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory_

_For Ever and Ever_

_Amen_

The book on the pulpit was obviously no Bible. At least, not in the Christian sense. Zack would have LOVED to have been able to get ahold of that and peruse through it. He knew his chances of doing that were incredibly slim. His curiosity was even more piqued since they apparently kept the book under lock and key.

"We shall now partake of the Lord's communion on this most holiest first Sabbath of the month." Archimedes said.

The ushers brought out several trays with bread and a big bowl filled with what Zack presumed was wine. Two ushers had to carry the bowl in and set it on the table in front of the pulpit.

Archimedes came down and stood right in front of it.

"The bread is the flesh that represents our Earthly form. All sin is borne into the flesh. Only by the breaking of flesh can we be absolved from our sins and obtain deliverance. The wine is the life blood that is spilled for the remission of our sins. Only by the breaking apart of the flesh and the spilling of blood can we become truly absolved of our fallen sinful nature. However, though our bodies may be broken, and the corrupted blood spilled, it is yet not enough, for our souls still hold the remnants of the taint left by the illusion of the universe. Only by the shedding of the True Blood can we be sanctified and prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven.

"It is said in our faith that 'To those who persevere, I have given many crowns.' Those who have broken their flesh and spilled their blood shall be evolved into their purest form, though still corrupted and tainted by sin. They shall not be evolved into Paradise. But those who drink the blood of the Purest Sacrifice, yea, they shall be sanctified, and they shall be absolved of their sins, and they _shall_ reach the highest form.

"I say unto you, on that Great and Terrible day when Our Lord appears and stands against the sun, He shall look down upon you, His children, and our Lord shall see that you are marked with the blood of the Purest Sacrifice. He _shall_ pass over you. As the nations of the sinful, hollow, corrupt world refuse to acknowledge or look upon the True Messiah, their nations and cities shall all be brought to ruin, and lo, the blood of our Lord's enemies shall be as vast as if a mighty river covering the whole Earth.

"But yea, you, His faithful children, shall be protected and sanctified, and ye shall be the ones called blessed. And what is this Purest Sacrifice? The Purest Sacrifice is the form of that which has been spoken to us by Our Lord, that blessed sacrament of which has been bequeathed upon us for the purposes of the purification of the Saints…"

As far as Zack was concerned, this was all simply a lot of babble. He was trying to analyze everything Archimedes was saying, but it was hard to follow, and he couldn't make any damn sense of it all.

"…this power has also been transferred upon myself to be the Purest Sacrifice. Yes, through my blood, and my flesh, ye shall be sanctified. For those that eat the flesh and drink the blood of our most Holy Lord shall be blessed, and those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the one He has ordained to stand in as the Purest Sacrifice, yea, they shall also be called Blessed."

Archimedes Demarion picked up an ornate, ceremonial knife off of the table, and, holding his hand over the giant bowl of wine, sliced his hand open.

It caught Zack so off guard he nearly jumped out of his seat. Nobody else around him showed any expression nor sign of emotion whatsoever.

Archimedes allowed the blood to flow freely out of his hand into the bowl.

"To him who overcomes, I shall give him many crowns. To him who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I shall give him the keys to the universe. He shall become one with God, and he shall become God, and I shall call him blessed, and he shall become blessed because he is one with God and is God."

Archimedes held his still bleeding hand over the bread on the table and let the drops of blood spill on each tray.

Zack was pretty certain he would not be partaking of communion that day. He had to fight to keep himself from retching. He felt truly sick.

Archimedes let enough blood drip out of his hand to adequately cover everything, then took a white cloth from the table and put it over his wound to clot his bleeding.

So that was the scar Zack had noted on Archimedes' hand earlier.

One by one, the ushers began to direct the people out of their seats. One by one, they came up to the table and took some bread and wine or whatever the heck actually was in that bowl and went back to their seats to partake.

Zack couldn't watch it. He held his head in his hands the entire time. He was so grossed out it was truly hard to keep his breakfast down.

Everyone in the church was eating bread and drinking something that was mixed with Archimedes Demarion's blood.

Why had Archimedes invited him here? Why had he allowed him to come and be a part? If Archimedes was trying to do this to convince Zack this was just a normal town with average, friendly people and that there was nothing strange or unusual really taking place here at all, well, IT WASN'T FREAKING WORKING!

This service was the one of the most disturbing, depraved things he had ever experienced or seen in his life.

Archimedes was speaking again. Zack didn't want to look up, but soon realized Archimedes was actually preaching a sermon. When he did look up, he was relieved that nobody was eating bloody bread nor drinking wine mixed with blood anymore.

Archimedes was preaching his sermon, and everyone was sitting solemnly, eyes on him, soaking in every word.

It was at this point that Zack was able to look around and see just how many kids there were in this town. Quite a lot, although he hadn't seen hardly any of them outside before. He thought of the kids partaking in the eating and drinking of the bloody sacraments and felt like throwing up again.

He just couldn't imagine it, them having to sit through these services during all their formative years, living this life, in this town, being indoctrinated with this stuff again and again and again.

He tried to push it out of his mind for the moment and focus on the sermon. Archimedes was preaching on prosperity, how their Lord wanted them all to be blessed in their lives, and then he quickly transitioned into threats of divine punishment for sins and transgressions (he failed to clarify exactly what constituted 'sin' and 'transgression,' though Zack could imagine the townspeople were perfectly familiar with that) before moving onto the Great and Terrible day of the Lord and the Great Judgment of the world to come. He preached on how the corrupt and wicked-minded one day would be made to pay and answer for their willful blindness.

Zack had never sat through a genuine, full-on fire and brimstone type sermon before and would have been more fascinated were he not feeling so sick and disturbed right now. Archimedes was carrying on like a crazy fundamentalist preacher, although the difference here was that the delivery of the sermon was strangely calm and somber.

Archimedes spoke softly and solemnly as he carefully enunciated every word. He was basically delivering a fire and brimstone scare-the-shit-out-of-you-with-fear-of-judgment-and-eternal-torment message being delivered in the form of a relaxed lecture.

Everybody sat in their seats, perfect posture, even the children, paying close attention and soaking in every word. Nobody squirmed. Nobody fidgeted. All eyes were on Archimedes.

Archimedes finally ended his sermon with a final, long-winded exhortation on persevering to the end.

After the sermon, Archimedes closed in prayer.

_Give us rest on this day of Sabbath, most holy Lord_

_As day for us all_

_Filled with Your perfect peace_

_Refill us and resuscitate us from our slumber_

_As we go back out into our community to do Thine perfect will_

_Give us eyes to see so that we may never stray from Thine Perfect Truth_

_Give us knowledge so that we may not be led astray_

_By the cares of the outside world_

_Protect us, refill us, revitalize us, strengthen us, renew us!_

_May that great day of the great Glorious Appearing come very soon_

_Let us come into your kingdom with tears of joy and gladness_

_In your Holy Name we pray, Amen!_

After the 'amen,' everyone got out of their seats and slowly began flooding through the doorway.

Zack could do nothing but sit in his seat dumbfounded for a while.

He felt like he had just been put through a Twilight Zone episode.

After a short while, he could hear the last of the congregation leaving the building, and he raised his head to see Archimedes Demarion above him, looking down at him.

Zack looked Archimedes in the eyes. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"Come with me." he said.

Zack _could _refuse. He could jump up, head back to his room, get his possessions, get his car, and get the heck out of there. But he didn't know what kind of repercussions that would cause, or if the people of the town would actually let him do that by this point. Not to mention the crazy man currently standing above him. God only knew what insane intentions he had for Zack now that Zack had been given a rare inside look as to what the inner workings of the religion were really like. But he also felt like he had no choice. He stood, and Archimedes turned and began walking silently towards the back of the church. Zack reluctantly followed.

It seemed as if it was just him and Archimedes in the building. But Zack knew from experience that such appearances could be deceiving. Archimedes headed for the left side of the back of the church where there was a door. Zack followed obediently, wondering if this was the part where Archimedes took him in the back and he finally found out what had happened to Maya. Only it would be the last thing he ever found out.

The door led into a small hallway, and Zack followed Archimedes through the hall to another door that opened up into an office. Archimedes led him in. Zack was prepared to try and punch his way out if need be. Surely this old man couldn't be that tough to subdue. And they were alone. Or at least, it looked as if they were alone. His thoughts were on the men who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and accosted him in front of the municipal building. Zack was remaining on constant high alert.

Were they waiting outside, hidden, ready to come in and ambush him when Archimedes was ready and gave the signal?

"Sit, please." Archimedes gestured towards the chair in front of the desk, then took his seat at the head of the desk and faced Zack.

"Do you understand what you just witnessed?" Archimedes said.

Archimedes was reached into his hand and pulled out what Zack realized was a giant band-aid. Archimedes was unwrapping his wound and tending to it while he and Zack talked.

"That you people are insane beyond belief?" was all Zack could bring himself to say.

That was probably not the right answer that should have come out. But Zack didn't know what else to say. It probably didn't matter much anyways. Right or wrong, he wasn't certain he expected to live past the next few minutes anyways.

"You're right. That ritual was pretty insane." Archimedes said nonchalantly as he was wrapping up his wound.

Now Zack was pretty shocked.

"So was the sermon, the hymns, the prayers... all of it. Totally insane!" Archimedes said, with an almost glint of humor in his eyes.

Zack really didn't know what to say.

"You know those warehouses we have out on the docks?" Archimedes said. "The ones that look rusted and unused? We have secret entrances in the floors that open up which trucks pass through from tunnels running underneath the town and forest and end in a secret exit somewhere. We have a variety of different places from all over the country that we get our goods from. Half the illusion is making sure the normal populace of the town doesn't find out."

"So, it IS all a deception?" Zack said, beside himself at this entire place.

"Some of our supplies do come in by ship. We have special holy days in which everyone is required to use special curtains that block out the light in their homes and remain inside in the darkness, part of a 'special ritual.' We claim that our Lord literally comes through the town and inspects it and anyone who looks out their window will be blinded and instantly killed by the 'holy light.' And so, while the town is blissfully unaware, we bring in certain supplies by ship. Hence the aerodrome lens you were so sharp to catch on to."

"You're deceiving everyone. I don't understand why." Zack said, disbelieving.

"It's all for the Greater Good."

"You made those people drink your blood." Zack said with a tone of unnerved exasperation.

"When I explain to you why, you will come to understand..."

"You made CHILDREN drink your blood!" Zack said.

"Zack, listen to me very carefully." Archimedes said, speaking slowly and articulately. "In ANY culture, religion is necessary to keep things in line. Without religion, there is no moral basis with which to keep the laws and precepts by which one must live by grounded in. Man creates his own laws as they come to define morality, and there is constant rebellion and anarchy. But if it is believed they are God's laws? You can make most people follow them to the letter and strip away their desire to rebel, simply out of fear for their immortal souls. America has Christianity. The Middle East has Islam. Israel has Judaism. Asia has Buddhism and Hinduism and others, you get the picture. However, none of these religions do very much to ultimately purge the corruption and wickedness that you see so prevalent in the rest of the societies of the world, do they?"

"And what about making children drink your blood? Isn't that twisted and corrupt beyond all belief?"

"It just is what it is. The truth is, Zack, there IS no right or wrong or morality in the world around us. Right and wrong are just man-made concepts that are subjective, created based off of what _feels _good and what feels bad as well as the need to control the bestial urges of the human race in order to establish control and order within society. Morality is a social construct. Even still, history has continued to prove that the bestial urges within human beings, this pre-disposition towards lawlessness, as some might try to define it, cannot be curbed nor controlled so easily.

"Our founders came here because they wanted a world free from the corruption of the lawlessness of the outside world. But they couldn't have done so without finding some way of keeping people in line, even moreso than the rest of the societies of the outside world had done. Belief in God and trying endlessly to please Him is the only thing that can make something like this possible. Christianity as it is just isn't sufficient. Just look at the state of America all around you. Greed, corruption, and murder without ceasing. Your worldly politicians pass laws favoring whoever has the most money to line their pockets with. Poor people go broken and hungry and even the most religious among you act like they don't even seem to care. For our ideal society to work, we needed something a little more catered, something a little more on the edge."

"So they created a cult?"

"With only the best intentions in mind." Archimedes said.

"You say that there is no morality," Zack challenged him. "Yet the founders created this town and this façade in order to escape that which seemed 'lawless' and immoral to them. Why should it have even mattered if there are no such things?"

"Because they were dreamers ahead of their time who dreamed of creating a utopia that existed far away from the discomforts of crime and poverty and constant fear."

"And they decided the best way to do this was by brainwashing people?"

Archimedes shrugged as if it didn't matter one whit. "Do you have any better ideas? Out there in your world, many are beginning to acknowledge moral relativity. The sad truth is that it's a double-edged sword. For from the very moment people begin to acknowledge that there is no right nor wrong, society is destined to collapse. Nobody will ever be able to agree on what should be conceived as good and evil, and it will eventually all devolve into anarchy as people continue to fight over not what is right or wrong, but over what _should _be right or wrong. It's only a matter of time, really."

"And you think all of this is better? Robbing people of their free will?"

"Liberating them, really. From themselves."

"You made children drink your blood!" Zack repeated.

"There are several other strange religions in the world in which the drinking of blood is not an uncommon practice, particularly within tribal religions."

"So your logic is since it's okay for barbaric, uneducated third world nations, it's okay for you?" Zack asked him.

"There is no harm in drinking blood. One cannot catch anything if there is nothing in the blood to catch. Everyone will be just fine." Archimedes said.

Zack would have to get Cody's expert medical opinion on that later. If there was a later.

"Where exactly do you get the money to run an operation like this? There is no economy in this town, and I'm pretty certain feeding everyone here and having modern amenities like gas and electricity doesn't come cheap."

"We have some connections in high places. They help make sure we are provided for. In exchange for other things."

"What other things? What sort of connections are you talking about? And _why_?"

"Answers to all those questions, I am not necessarily at liberty to say."

That thought chilled Zack right to the bone. There were people on the outside who knew about this? This place had connections? High connections? Was the U.S. government aware? Were some of these connections in the U.S. government? Or did this go much darker and deeper than all of that? Or was Archimedes simply trying to mess with his mind? Was anything Archimedes saying right now really true? Was any of it really to be believed? What exactly was the truth? Archimedes' confession raised a lot more chilling questions about this place in his mind. Zack decided to press for some answers with a pointed question:

"What if I try to expose you?"

Archimedes smiled.

"First of all, you are an outsider. It would be your word against all of ours. Nobody in this town would believe you. They would think you are simply trying to slander our religion and way of life. Second,"

Archimedes leaned forward.

"If you are testing me to find out just how high some of our connections go, well, I can assure you it wouldn't be very wise to start pushing."

The cold chill was complete all over Zack's body.

"You would kill me."

"Kill?" Archimedes laughed as if Zack had just told the greatest joke he'd ever heard in his life. "No! We are not murderers. Not at all! We simply have ways of making life a little more difficult for you, if need be. It's not something we want to do. We just want to protect our community, is all."

"So you're not planning on killing me here and now?"

"You still have it running through your head that there's some sort of massive conspiracy going on here where your wife found out something she shouldn't have and was eliminated because of it. And you are suggesting you expect I am only letting you onto the truth before I do the same right now. No, I assure you, it's not like that at all!"

"Why do you need 'high connections?' You realize how suspicious that makes everything sound by this point." Zack decided to push the issue.

"You are again suspecting some kind of wider conspiracy. Nothing of the sort. I will let you in on just a little for nothing more than to satisfy your curiosity. A few of our founders were very wealthy CEOs and people who had very prosperous companies underneath them. Many of these companies are still in the names of the families of higher ranking members of our town, their descendants. I am one of these as well. In addition to being mayor of Fetch Rock, I also run my very own company elsewhere. There is an acting CEO, of course, for when I'm not there, but it is under my family's name, and I am legally the head CEO. The financial gain from these companies is precisely how we fund our little town and are able to deliver food and supplies on a regular basis. You wondered earlier what constitutes a busy day in this town? Honestly, it's making sure everything is running smoothly with our companies and maintaining relationships with our sympathetic connections. And as for what we'd actually do if you attempted to bring the truth out, well, we'd simply do nothing more than arrange for your name to be slandered in the media for purposes of discrediting you. It's simply something we'd have to do, in order to maintain our credibility and way of life."

"So you're going to let me go?"

"I am going to insist that you leave! We will allow you to stay one more evening. Tomorrow morning, however, we expect you to be on your way."

Zack leaned back, still troubled.

"You made children drink your blood."

"Zack, I am only upholding religious practices that were established long ago in the days of our founders. It has been this way for several hundred years. You must understand, it is barbaric, yes, but you change one thing now, and everything becomes subject to being questioned and changed. You can see this within the progressive movements that occur within religion in the rest of America, can you not? It was once believed that slavery was backed up by the Bible. The country was divided and went to war over it. How long before segregation ended? How much death and bloodshed had to happen before all was said and done? Now, today, it is the controversy over the gay rights movement. Tomorrow, it will be something else. I have nothing against progression in a society. Here, though, it would undermine the utopia we have worked so hard to create and maintain."

For a place that was very far removed from the rest of society, Archimedes clearly seemed to be very knowledgeable and kept up with things going on in the rest of the world. Zack had no doubt he was telling the truth about his high connections. It would only make sense. No community with no economy like this could stay afloat if there weren't connections. Zack wondered if taxpayer money in the rest of the country was working to fund this sort of place.

"I just... I just don't know what to even think." Zack said.

"Forget about it, Zack." Archimedes said. "Go back home. Go back to your life. This is just the way we are. We mean anyone no harm. _I _mean you nor anyone else no harm. We are just simple people trying to live our lives the best we can in peace. I am only attempting to do my job and safeguard that peace the best I can. We have created a close-knit and wonderful community here. There is no need to ruin the good we have here just because not everyone would agree with the way we do things."

There was so much more Zack wanted to say, but he couldn't articulate it right now. His brain was running so wildly. He knew he was probably going to have nightmares for a long while about this place. The church, Archimedes slicing his hand, the people partaking of his blood...

He felt like he needed to do something. But what could he do? If this town was really as well connected as Archimedes claimed it was, it would be impossible to do much. There was simply nothing that could conceivably be done.

"You look like you need to head back to your room and get some rest. You appear to be far too overwhelmed right now." The way Archimedes said it made it sound more like a command rather than a suggestion.

"Return to your room, take a nap, get refreshed, and then take a walk around the town, enjoy your evening! Forget about the things we talked about here. Go back to your life. There is nothing more for you to find here."

Zack looked Archimedes in the eye.

"So my wife most definitely wasn't here?"

"I most assure you, if she had been, we'd have had no reason to hide it."

"I have just one more question."

"Yes?"

"The lighthouse. That legend of James, Oliver, and Robert, that's just to keep people off the island, right?"

Zack didn't know why he was asking the question. But something was still bothering him. It was those nightmares he'd been having. They'd started up right before he'd came to this town. He'd thought it was just a coincidence, but...

"Actually, the part about Oliver, James, and Robert _is _true."

Zack looked surprised.

"Obviously, it had nothing to do with the wrath of God or anything like that," Archimedes said, waving it off. "But all three men who were supposed to have been manning the lighthouse _did _vanish without a trace. Several ships _did _crash into the harbor, and the town did catch on fire. As for the whereabouts of the men, no one knows. However, it was noted around the time that Oliver Drake's mental health was... becoming very questionable. There were several reports of odd behavior being developed by him, reported by both Robert and James. If you'd like the most likely opinion, it's very reasonable to say he actually killed them along with himself and they are at the bottom of the ocean somewhere."

"That raises another question." Zack said. "If you were trying to keep to the precepts of your religion, why _did _you build the lighthouse?"

"It was built shortly after the town was first established. The Lord didn't 'always provide for us,' as we are so fond of saying, but after the fiasco, we propagated the belief that we had angered God and He had visited His wrath upon us. According to what was proposed by the town leaders, God wanted to take care of us all by Himself, without outside influences. And so it has been to this day."

"How can I believe James, Robert, and Oliver weren't simply slaughtered to propagate this belief?" Zack asked pointedly.

"I can assure you if this had happened, it would have been on record somewhere. It isn't. I've looked into it myself. Plus, there would have been far simpler ways to meld the people's mind towards what we want them to believe. We are not murderers."

"I hope I can be absolutely sure of that." Zack looked him in the eye.

"I will admit, we are liars and deceivers. But murderers? No. It's all for the greater good."

"I still don't understand how this can possibly be for the greater good. And you're telling me you have lines you won't cross, even for the 'greater good'?"

"We do have an ethical code."

"Even though you don't believe in such things as morality, right or wrong?"

"We will not inflict nor cause harm to come to our fellow man. It is a social construct we feel is best. That is the whole of our law for those of us who know the truth. It's about humanity. That's what this town is all about. Creating a paradise where people can live in peace, away from corruption, violence, and bloodshed. We are pacifists."

Zack's mind was reeling. Too much was running through it. Too much that still didn't make a lick of sense, even with all of Archimedes' explanations. He glanced down at the floor.

"You look like you really need a good long rest to process." Archimedes said. "I encourage you. Go back to your room. Get some rest. Enjoy the rest of your stay here." Zack was pretty certain he could not possibly enjoy the rest of his stay here.

Zack and Archimedes ended their talk. Archimedes escorted Zack out of the church. Zack's legs felt like jelly the whole time, and his head was spinning. Archimedes closed and locked the church doors behind Zack. Zack managed to find his way back to the boarding house.

Mary and Jerry greeted him warmly when he entered and asked him how he had enjoyed the service. He said he was still processing and it seemed very interesting. They seemed pleased by this. He then realized that they had likely never seen a real church service in their life. They'd never seen a normal service which involved communion without literal blood, nor a service which involved a balanced message of the love of God rather than judgment and brainwashing. It made him sick. He saw them in a whole different light now. These weren't bad people. They were simply people being taken advantage of, lost in a deception that had been going on for... how long? Well over a hundred years or so? If he'd had the ability, he'd expose the truth to the light of day and rescue all of these people away from here. That would not be wise, however, considering what Archimedes had told him. He felt helpless as he came to realize just how little he was able to do.

In his room he laid on his bed. He thought to himself, in another way of looking at things, this _was_ a very peaceful place. The people here _seemed_ happy, if not eccentric as a result of their environment and upbringing. There really was no corruption, violence, crime, nor any of the other horrible things that the outside world was plagued with constantly. Sure, the way it was being brought about was completely fucked up, but, by God, they had accomplished _something _significant here that the rest of the world didn't have, hadn't they?

Zack wondered if it really would be a good idea to try to expose the truth and save these people. What would happen then? To them? To their faith? To their peace? Everything would be shattered. The more he thought about it, he realized just what a horrifying Catch-22 was going on here. Maybe Archimedes was right. Or maybe Archimedes was really just a downright horrible prick.

There seemed to be no easy solution. Zack put his hands over his head and struggled with the conflicting thoughts. He was so mentally fatigued by this point that it was hard to think straight. He ended up shutting off his mind and letting his fatigue overtake him. He drifted off into slumber.

(6)

_In the nightmare, he was sitting in the church all over again watching the horrific scene repeat itself once more, but this time it didn't stop at Archimedes' blood. Archimedes sliced his hand open at first, but then the scene turned downright mad. A pig was brought in, and they held it aloft over the bread and wine and slashed its throat, letting its blood spew out and splatter over everything as well. Then a goat was brought in, and they did the same to it. Archimedes was speaking some sort of religious prayer over everything, but it was coming out all jumbled and garbled and nonsensical. It was not as Archimedes' voice was in the previous service, here it sounded decidedly more demonic. There were a few lines Zack could make out:_

_"Our Lord Abaddon, who art in hell..."_

_"The lives of the people here we give unto you..."_

_"...unto you, the principality and the demonic glory forever and ever..."_

_The blood soaked sacraments were offered. Zack looked around the church, but it wasn't the bread and wine that everyone was solely partaking of. They were also eating entrails, organs, guts, and that kind of stuff. Zack's eyes caught the face of a child, his face covered with the blood of the small intestine he was happily choking down. Everyone smiled, and the place had a horrifyingly upbeat demeanor._

_Zack looked over back at the pulpit and saw that the goat and pig had been strung above the pulpit, their bodies split wide open and their organs missing._

_'So, that's what everyone's eating...' dream Zack thought._

_Archimedes was staring at him. It was as if he was staring straight into his soul. His eyes were blood red, demonic. There was something in them... no, something _in_ him. This was not the real Archimedes looking at him, but something else._

_Zack frantically looked around at the congregation. They were still chowing down, but all eyes were now locked on him as they did so. They smiled at him. Zack wanted to get out of there._

_He had this strange floating sensation, and at the same time he was witnessing this twisted scene, he was now also seeing the lighthouse once again with its light swirling around through the storm, beckoning, and the meteor coming down from the sky, lighting up the rolling stormy clouds of the darkened sky, and the demonic voice echoing out of it._

_Dream Zack looked back toward Archimedes. Archimedes' voice was moving in sync with the demonic voice coming from the meteor. Zack realized that Archimedes was staring right at him and pointing. There was some sort of very large and strange symbol on Archimedes' head._

_'...set me free and give me my power... harbinger of my demonic glory... Zack...'_

(7)

Zack shot wide awake. He was shaking profusely. Sweat drenched his entire body. His breathing was coming in heavy spurts. It took him a while to realize he was back in his room and what he had experienced had all been just a dream. It was so strong he was having a hard time differentiating reality from fantasy.

His first impulse was to think: _All a dream. All just a dream. I'm back home safely in my bed. There's no Fetch Rock. No lighthouse. No crazy religion. No church service. It's the other night, just before John Tracy comes to my door, but he's not about to come to my door, because that part will have only been just a dream._

But he was laying on the bed in the boardinghouse of Fetch Rock. The nightmare was still real. He had to think for a second and decide if the church service he'd experienced this morning was also real or a part of the dream. He looked at his watch and noted it was past 2 PM. He was lying in bed still in his clothes, and as it all came back to him, he realized that his visit to the church service this morning had indeed been real.

He was breathing heavily. Shaking, he stepped onto the floor, walked over to his bag, and fished out a bottle of water. As he tried to open the cap, he spilled some of it on the floor. His hands were shaking too hard. He drank down the bottle of water in a few seconds with heavy gulps.

He couldn't remember when he'd ever had a nightmare like that. Ever. Just as he'd predicted, that twisted church service had left a really horrible, possibly permanent impression on him. The dream he'd just had was the most horrible dream he'd ever had in his life. He hoped he'd never have it again.

His mind was reeling as he decided it probably _was_ for the best he just got away from this town. Forget he ever came to this place or that it ever actually existed. Block it from his memory. Go back to his life. Hope for the best when it came to….

_Maya_

It suddenly hit him what he was really here for. He was on a mission. He had a reason for putting himself through all of this.

But, he had to also face the horrible reality. He'd hit a dead end. This lead was a bust. He would never find her here, he was certain. Even if something had happened to her, there was no way he'd ever find out. He couldn't conceive of the possibility of finding her by this point.

All he'd done was cause himself to become more and more disturbed at the capabilities of the human race. He pulled his knees up to himself and buried his face.

It just wasn't fair. He didn't want much. Not much at all. The only thing he wanted in the whole universe, at all, was to have his wife back. Why was he going through this nightmare? If there really was a God up there somewhere, by just what kind of sadistic, messed up divine plan was He putting him through all this?

He cried.

(8)

"How'd ya enjoy the service today?" Mark Millar said as he clapped Zack on the shoulder from behind, causing him to jump slightly. He hadn't heard Mark come up.

"Well," Zack said, trying to simultaneously hold back his disgust and rage as well as trying avoid choking down his food, managed out: "It was interesting."

"Now, you don't have to try and not hurt our feelings." Mark said, sitting down in the chair opposite of Zack. "We understand that to an outsider like yourself, it can be a tad on the extreme."

_'A tad?' _Zack thought. _'Just a tad? I'd hate to see what you consider excessive!'_

Zack wondered if Mark was one of the higher-up members of this town who knew the real truth of what goes on here. Zack realized he probably was.

"It was enlightening." Zack said, not having much else to say, with a colder tone than usually came out of his mouth.

"Well, so, I take it you will be leaving in the morning then?" Mark asked a little too cheerfully.

Zack realized that Archimedes had probably put Mark up to interrogating him and finding out his intentions for certain.

"Yeah, I think so. I've really got no more business left in this town." Zack said sullenly.

"Well, I sure hope you've enjoyed your stay!" Mark said.

"It's a very beautiful place, but I will admit I wasted my time. She was never here." Zack said, telling Mark what he felt Mark wanted to hear.

Mark's smile was huge.

"Well, I sure do hope you find her eventually. Never give up hope, okay?"

Mark clapped him on the shoulder again and then left. Zack continued eating slowly, trying to hold what he was eating down.

Truth be told, he didn't really want to leave. He didn't _really _necessarilybelieve that Maya had never been here. He didn't really believe much of what these people said at all anymore. He was getting a better grasp on his senses by this point.

When it came to this town, he felt he had so much more he could be investigating. He really wanted to know what was inside the buildings of this town. But he knew he had no choice. The people weren't going to let him inside. Whatever his experiences had been in this town, he was certain it was intentionally meant to give him a total mind-fuck, regardless of just what or how much was true or wasn't. And there was no telling just high this went or what was really going on. He was completely stalled. Zack felt sick.

It gave him some measure of relief to know that at least he had the disc. He was looking very forward to seeing if Cody would be able to crack it and get anything off of it. It just might turn out to be the one positive that came out of this whole trip here.

He finished his meal, and thanked his favorite waitress as he walked by. She seemed as pleased to have him with them as ever.

(9)

Zack went to the supermarket to get some more of that really good beer he was now getting addicted to along with some food, and then headed back to his room for his final night in Fetch Rock. He had no intention of spending the remainder of his day in the rest of the town. He felt he should have left town immediately. But he knew he wasn't going to do that. There was still one more thing he had to do. He knew now more than ever he was going to have to do it. If he didn't, he'd never be able to forgive himself.

Once more, the sun was setting outside, lighting the sky and the town with beautiful colors. A soft breeze was stirring. He tried not to think about Maya.

He thought about his nightmares. It was strange, really, when he let himself really sit and think about it. They _had _coincidentally started just before he'd come here. The longer he'd stayed, the more detailed and expanded they had started becoming.

Deep inside, he didn't think they could possibly or logically have a connection. They were just dreams, after all. Major coincidences, perhaps, weren't they?

He thought about the story of the disappearances. The speculation of Oliver Drake going mad and killing the others seemed logical. But Zack really wondered.

The people of Fetch Rock kept those boats tethered to the docks at all times. Surely the lighthouse wasn't guarded in the same way all the other buildings were. He wouldn't dare risk breaking curfew at night to chance sneaking into one of the buildings. But the lighthouse... what-if?

He wondered if they were watching his room 24/7. He wouldn't doubt it. Could he risk sneaking out? Would they be waiting outside to catch him like when he had tried to take the street past the municipal building? He wouldn't doubt that either.

But then, there was no guarantee of that.

Heck, he was still not completely certain his life was not in danger, whether he stayed for one more night or left immediately. And if they caught him sneaking around at night, what would they do? What might they also be possibly planning to do to him anyways?

John Tracy's words came back to him, reminding him that 'it was against all probability anything would happen to him.' Yeah. Maybe.

Zack realized he was going to have to think carefully and hard about this. His hesitancy surprised him. When he'd been a teenager or younger, he wouldn't have thought twice about doing something like this. Sneaking out at night was something done quite a bit. Perhaps he'd gotten soft as an adult. No, not soft, he realized, just more cautious.

The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized it was a risk worth taking. Before he left town, he needed to see inside at least one place he was forbidden. There would probably be nothing, but then again, maybe there would be something. What-if?

It was the only chance he had.


	7. The Lighthouse

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 6: The Lighthouse**

(1)

Zack stripped out of his clothes and laid in bed with the lights out for several hours in order to give the illusion he'd fallen asleep just in case he was being watched.

Luckily he was wide awake, so there was no chance of accidentally falling asleep, but he was a little bit ADD, so just lying there doing nothing was kind of boring.

He checked his watch periodically. When it finally said 1 AM, he got out of bed and without turning the light on put his clothes back on. He opened his travel bag out and fished around in it for a while, finally pulling out a flashlight and some batteries that he pocketed in his jacket. Then it was time for his plan to go into action.

He pressed his face against the window and looked outside very carefully.

He could see nothing all around. That didn't mean there was no one out there, though. Or was there? Well, perhaps he was about to find out.

He really couldn't make out any signs of life as he looked carefully outside the window for several minutes. He paid very special attention to any shadowy areas in particular. He could see nothing moving whatsoever. It was decided for certain in that moment, then. He was going to chance it.

He was very lucky that his window was right next to a tree. 'Just a little too easy, guys.' he briefly thought to himself. Or maybe that was on purpose.

As he carefully and slowly pushed his window open, trying to be as silent as possible, he realized that he felt like a kid again. Gosh, it had been such a long time since he'd done anything he wasn't supposed to be doing. In some ways, becoming an adult sucked.

He carefully stepped out towards the tree, grabbed the branch, and let his feet go. Carefully, and with not nearly as much grace as he'd used to have when he'd been a kid, shimmied down the tree.

'Whew.' he thought. He sure could go for some exercise. He made a mental note to start going back to the gym again on a regular basis when he returned to LA.

He turned around and looked back toward the dark building. He'd half expected Mary and Jerry to be looking at him out one of the windows. Busted!

But no, the shades were all shut, and the building was dark. Zack turned all around him. No movement anywhere. Nothing. Fetch Rock was as silent as the dead. Eerily silent.

Did they really have a curfew here in which no one enforced? Was everyone actually asleep? Did no one patrol the streets? It seemed unlikely, but it was impossible to be certain. Zack knew what a terrible risk he was taking, but what else could he do? This could very well be his only chance.

Maybe they had one or two people patrolling the streets somewhere, but Zack had never seen evidence of that. He thought back, though, to how they had seemed to know exactly when he had gone to bed the other night. It made him feel wary. Perhaps he was already busted. Maybe they had something with which they could see into his room at all times. Maybe it was only a matter of time before someone came after him to retrieve him.

Oh, well. He'd come this far. Might as well see this through as far as he could until the jig was up.

Sticking to the shadows, he was off.

(2)

His advantage was that the city was pitch black. No street lights or anything. Still, he didn't take any chances.

The full moon was out. He stuck to going in between the buildings where he could and staying directly off the streets.

He didn't dare switch on his flashlight. Here, the darkness was his friend. He was one with it, blended with it, and as far as he was concerned, the more darkness the better.

He was not accosted on his way to the docks. There was no one at the docks. As he looked around, he couldn't see any evidence he'd been followed.

The rowboats were waiting for him, just ripe for the taking, all ready to go. He prowled around the area for a bit, trying to make certain there really seemed to be no one around watching him. Somewhat satisfied, but still wary, he finally got inside one of the boats, untied it, and was off.

The moon glistened upon the water of the ocean, illuminating the water, guiding his path.

He really hoped to high heaven he wasn't visible to the town from here.

After a while, he arrived at the island and disembarked. He glanced at his watch. 1:33. Not bad, but he would have to hurry. He would need to be back in his room sound asleep by sunrise.

He realistically wanted to be back in his room well by 4 AM. No telling how early people in this town actually got up.

He headed up a path on the island. As he looked upward, the lighthouse loomed above him.

(3)

He walked up the sandy beach and up to a rocky path that led to where the lighthouse was. Old stone steps were placed in the ground that led up to its door.

He came up to the lighthouse door. He suddenly realized that for all he knew it might be locked. If that were the case, then he would feel pretty stupid for having come all this way for nothing. Of course, he could always break the door down, but even if he was leaving tomorrow, he didn't want to leave evidence he'd ever been here.

He tried the door. It was not locked, and it swung open, much to his relief. He quickly stepped inside and turned on his flashlight.

He was in a small entry room that held nothing of particular interest. There was a light switch, but he dared not turn it on. No need alerting the town that something was amiss by advertising his presence.

There was a stairwell leading down to his right, and as he took it he came upon the boiler room. The massive boiler sat to his left, and a smaller room opened to his right. He stepped in and shined his light around. Nothing much. Just some pipes running across the wall and a few switches he didn't feel the need to bother messing with.

The next room was just a storage room. A stairwell leading up into the main part of the lighthouse was to his left. He started to climb it, and came to a door with a hole in it.

He opened it and saw the chunk that was missing from the door was lying on the ground, along with an axe. He found the sight of it to immediately be rather chilling.

_'Odd'_ he thought.

He was at the stone spiral staircase. He ascended. At the top of the first level was a desk with a bunch of books and papers and stuff on it and the like. A large map of the surrounding ocean was above it. Zack messed around with some of the stuff on the desk, but he found nothing interesting.

There was a door to right of the desk, before the staircase's continued ascent. He opened it and entered.

Obviously, this was the crew room. There was a table for eating with a stove off to the right and a pantry to the very right of where he'd just entered. All the amenities and necessities for where the crew had their daily meals.

Zack shined his light around carefully, making sure not to flash it across the window. He flicked his light off for a second and went over to the window to look outside. Nothing. No activity in the town whatsoever. It was still as dead as ever. He was relieved yet still alert. He had to wonder at his luck by this point. Did they _really _not know he was out here yet? A grim thought of him arriving back in his room and finding Archimedes sitting on his bed, waiting for him, flashed through his mind. He pushed it out of his mind and resolved to focus on what he was here for. The rest he'd simply take as it came along.

Satisfied that there seemed to be no activity in the town, he flicked his light back on and poked around the room thoroughly. He went through the pantry, cabinets, everything. The food in the pantry was fresh, which was surprising to him. Had the people from the town used the lighthouse recently in one of their fake 'Holy Days?' There were quite a few perishable items in the pantry that looked like they had just come fresh from the grocery store.

There was nothing else of note in this room. He was beginning to think that maybe he was just wasting his time by this point. What did he really expect to find here, anyways? Yet, with the curiosity of the food, he knew he had to press forward.

He headed over to the door. There was a blower next to the door. It was a rather old device used for the crew to communicate with each other from different levels. It was a small thing that looked like the circular receiver from a really old telephone.

For no particular reason, Zack took it off its holder and put it to his ear.

There was the sound of scratching coming from it.

It made Zack's hair stand up on end. Now that was odd. What exactly was causing that?

He almost said hello into the end, but he caught himself. He carefully set it back on its holder.

He told himself there must be a logical explanation for it. Still, he suddenly felt cautious and wary. He suddenly felt kind of scared to even have his flashlight on now. He realized it had never occurred to him there might actually be someone stationed in the lighthouse, someone who stayed in the lighthouse at all times, keeping watch over it, manning it. If that was the case, now Zack was all alone in here with whoever.

But then again, there was no evidence that that was the case, though. Just some weird scratching. Perhaps it was nothing. Was it picking up the sound of rats in the building, maybe?

Zack was already here, anyways. He reminded himself he should keep to his resolve, no matter what the cost. If nothing could be proven for certain, he should press on.

He left the room. He climbed the stairwell until he came to another landing where there was a second door. He opened this one and looked inside. This was the quarters where the crew slept. He slipped inside and began looking around for anything notable.

He started feeling a little foolish, honestly. He wasn't sure what he'd expected to find here. There were two bunk beds opposite each other. There was also a bookcase with nothing of interest, tables, personal items of the crew members, a chest on the floor...

Curious, though not really expecting to find anything, he opened it. Nothing but clothes and stuff. He rummaged through them anyways. He felt something crinkle. He pulled out several pairs of pants and found a handful of pages underneath. Zack pulled them out.

The writing was neat, but looked a little haphazard, like the author had been writing faster than necessary.

_I need to put my thoughts down here. I think I will go insane if I keep them in my head. Maybe I am insane. I could tell Robert, but what on Earth would he think of me? I wasn't dreaming. I saw the face of God! How terrifying it was! Oliver has seen the face of God, too. I witnessed it from afar, but Oliver has actually touched the face of God! A transfiguration. We have been taught the existence of such things before, but how terrifying and grand it was to behold!_

_We are taught to never write down onto paper anything having to do with the faith to which we hold to, not of tenants of our faith, nor our doctrine, nor our theology, nothing! I could be in serious trouble if these things I'm scribbling down right now were to ever be found. But I must write them down! I might go mad if I keep them in my head! I thought of telling Robert, but I have no idea what he might say! He might report me._

_Yes, we all have faith. We all serve God with all our hearts and souls in hopes of receiving the promised paradise someday, but to say that one has actually witnessed the visible essence and ephemeral divinity of God, why, I might be considered as having been given over to delusion! Yes, our Lord does work miracles in our midst, but it is also written:_

_'Who has seen the Face of God? Who hast known the Mind of God? Who can look upon the Face of the Mighty Lord and Live except for those whom He chooses?'_

_It is also written:_

_'Behold, I tell you a great mystery! We shall not all of us live in the ignorance of the darkness, but some of us shall be shown the Face of God, and whenupon this happens, there shall be the signs of the beginning of the end of the age.'_

_Is that what I have just witnessed? The beginning of the end of the age? We are taught:_

_'No man knoweth the day nor date nor hour when Our Lord shall stand against the sun and His mighty darkness shall blight out the light of the sun, for Light is the knowledge of Man, but He shall trample upon all knowledge of Man and shall reduce their wisdom to ashes. Their ignorance shall be their devolution. Their eternal dissolution to the ignorance of outer darkness shall be assured. But to those who have cast off their foolish human ignorance and have instead have sought true knowledge, the knowledge of the divine, the knowledge of the Eternal Aeon, they shall, too, cast off their fleshly forms, and thus be united to their True Spirit Forms, and those who have cast off the fleshy desires of this Earth in the Most Holy and Divine Search for the True Knowledge which Saves, they shall be of the Purest Spirit, and they shall be given Kingdoms over the Earth to rule until the Great and Horrible Day of the Last Millennium when all the Earth shall be judged, and yea, they too shall be the Judges. Nobody knows when this Great and Horrible Day shall occur.'_

_Is the Great and Horrible Day upon us?_

_I had known Oliver had been acting strange in the last month, we both knew it, but neither of us could have had any idea. He had always been a very quiet type. But then he'd started becoming downright strange. His faith had taken a strange turn in the prior few weeks. He'd started spending most of his time sitting at the kitchen table, or at his post, or in his bed, doing nothing but reading the sacred scriptures obsessively nonstop. Now, I do not blaspheme by saying it is a wrong thing to be wholly committed and devoted to one's faith, but how can I put this? Something about it didn't seemed quite right at first. It scared me. I know it rather concerned Robert, too. Oliver hasn't been able to speak to us without most of his speech being that of scriptures from the Holy Book. We had become convinced maybe he'd become a little mad. Especially after what he'd been through recently. I was most certain of this when I was alone with him up at the top one evening and he said to me:_

_"You want to know what I've seen, James?"_

_"No, sir." I asked him._

_"I dare not blaspheme by saying that I have seen it. For the scriptures say: 'Test the spirits, so that ye may know and it shall be true that ye are not coming to understand and believe false doctrine. For if any man should say: 'I know of the divine, and have seen its true essence, the living proof of its ephemeral form' and upon testing the spirits, it cannot be proven that he has truly seen the divine, he shall be a labeled heretic, a blasphemer. Such as these shall not be tolerated. But if he has seen the Essence of the Divine, but does not say it, then he is a prophet, and he shall prophecy, and his prophecies shall come to pass, and ye shall know by the truth of his words that he has in fact seen the divine, and indeed, has transcended unto another realm entirely. Then ye shall know that the end is near.'"_

_He looked me straight in the eyes while saying all of this. There was something about his eyes. Something unusual. It frightened me._

_"Do you know of this passage, James?" he said, still not taking his eyes off of me._

_"I know it indeed, sir. We have been taught about it many times."_

_"And who do you say I am?" he said._

_His question confused me, and I didn't know how to answer._

_"You are Oliver Drake, the head lighthouse keeper." I said to him. It was the only think I could think of to say._

_"The harbinger is coming." he said._

"_What?" I asked him, utterly confused about what he was saying._

_"But first," he said, completely ignoring my question. "There must be offerings. For without the sanctification of that which is corrupt and imperfect, how then can we achieve that which must be done, the heralding in of that Great and Terrible Day?"_

_I was uncertain of how to answer him. "W... well..." I said. "I have partaken of the Divinely Transferred Blood, and tasted the Flesh, just like everyone else."_

_"But of whose blood is it necessary to bring about the Glorious Appearing? Who must be offered as a sacrifice?" he asked._

_Again, I didn't know how to answer him. I was never taught anything in our faith like what he was saying right then._

_"I don't recall anything of such sort in the scriptures." I said carefully, wondering the chilling thought if he had perhaps he'd become a delusional heretic and we might all be in danger because of him._

_"Behold, I tell you a great mystery." he said slowly. "We shall not all be True or Pure Spirits, but _some_ of us, not all of us, shall transcend beyond all of things early, and we shall herald in the end of the age."_

_"That, uh... that isn't scriptural..." I said._

_"And if the things I speak do not come to pass, then thou shalt raise thy hands against me, and I shall be judged most severely, and not just unto myself, but unto the Third and Fourth generations. Yet, if I speak the truth, and thou shalt try to raise thy hand against me, then shalt not thy own Eternal Assurance be stripped away from you instead? Tell me, James, is it best that thou should raise thy hand against me?"_

_"What kind of sacrifices are we talking about again?" I asked, trying to divert the question._

_"Does it frighten you, James, the thought of being a sacrifice?" I was frightened by his eyes, not just the way he was looking at me, but the way it appeared as if he was looking into my very soul. "Ah, but I should be so honored to be that first Purest Sacrifice!" he said with surefire conviction as he turned his head to look outward toward Fetch Rock, much to my relief. "But what about you, James? Are you not willing to go before me? And Robert, too? Would you be willing to take my place if God were to so appear before you? Or would you rebel and turn away from the Divine Will, should there come to be truth to these things of which I do not speak yet allude to?"_

_I do not joke. He talked exactly in this manner the entire conversation. I assured him I would not turn against him. What else could I say? I knew what he was saying. Anyone in this town would know what he was saying. He was claiming to have seen the Face of God, yet he could not say it in those exact words, for to say it in that exact manner would be blasphemy. But he alluded that he had indeed seen the face of God. And he had also talked about sacrifices. He referred to us 'going before him.' He had asked me if I were afraid of being a sacrifice. What did that mean? Did he plan to kill us? _

_This was an urgent matter I finally ended up bringing before Robert. Some of the things Oliver spoke of most definitely were not in the scriptures, even though I know the scriptures do say:_

_'Dost anyone have understanding of God? Let him proclaim unto all the Earth the mysteries of God and the foundations of the universe. But there are many mysteries of which man knoweth not, and even in these scriptures, these many mysteries and truths are written not. If a man sayeth that God hast revealed these new mysteries to him, do not discount him immediately, for the Lord may have revealed these things unto him. If he speaketh the truth, he shall prophesy, and indeed all the things he speaks of shall come to pass. Indeed, shall God not also even give such a man the power to call down fire from heaven? Shall you surely test one of God's holy prophets? For if thou raise thy hand against God's Chosen, even though it be in error, shall not the God of All Truth, who IS Knowledge, and IS Wisdom, and IS Holy, and IS Eternal, shall He not also visit pestilence and curses upon you and your descendants unto the third and fourth generations? So be careful that thou dost not raise thy hand against God's holy prophets, even in error. But if the prophet speaketh of things which do not come to pass, he shall be called a Heretic, and he shall be cast out from the Holy Covenant.'_

Zack didn't know what to make of reading all of this. It was mind blowing, to be sure, but now he suddenly felt his trip here had definitely not been wasted. He was actually getting some insight as to the teachings of the cult and the way its members thought. Not to mention some shred of insight as to what may have actually taken place here concerning the legend of the lighthouse keepers. It was all very fascinating, and he was riveted. He read on.

_Because of this passage, I cannot immediately discount Oliver's claim to have met the divine. Yet, I also feel he may have genuinely threatened our lives. And if he's gone mad, should we not do whatever we can to protect ourselves? Robert and I agreed that we needed to take it before the Holy Council and submit it as a Suspicion of Heresy. Robert went into town the next day and got it arranged. Without Oliver's knowledge, we attended a special meeting in our temple under the municipal building and conferred. Though they sympathized with our plight and expressed concern, they also could not bring themselves to raise their hand against a claim of Prophecy, just in case it might turn out to be actually true. _

_Rather, we were allowed to arm ourselves just in case he tried to commit a foul deed. We were to watch and report on his behavior on a regular basis. However, we were also told that even if he were to attack us, we raised our hands against him at our own peril._

_This was a great conundrum for me. If I raised my hand against God's chosen, I would endure a punishment far worse than death for all eternity. Yet, do I just stand by and let myself get killed in the hopes of not angering God and achieving eternal paradise someday? Ah, if only my flesh were weaker and my spirit stronger. I am still tied down to this world. It haunts me every night. I could be so much more into the scriptures and the things of the spirit, things of which are eternal and not temporal. But I know that I am not. And thus, I might raise my hand against Oliver if he ever came after me as a blood sacrifice._

_It alighted unto me one evening that Oliver would disappear for very long periods of time. I did wonder where he was going. We do not leave the lighthouse unless we have very good reason, not until our season is up and the next crew is scheduled to be rotated in. If we do, it MUST be either a supply run or an emergency like our Suspicion of Heresy, so where exactly was he going?_

_I ascertained that when he disappeared, he most definitely couldn't be found inside the lighthouse. Nor could I find him when I searched for him around the island. Yet - here is the strange part – all the boats were still tethered. All of them. Unless he had developed the sudden ability to walk on water, no way could he leave the island. So where was he?_

_I did have my chance to follow him one night. I had been stalking him closely the entire day, trying to make sure I knew his whereabouts at all times. Finally, he left his room, heading swiftly down the stairwell, eyes and body language set on a certain mission. I was hidden in the shadows. This was my chance._

_He left the lighthouse, but did not leave the island. I followed him, until we both came to the side of the island facing away from town. There is a part where the island raises up and is higher than the rest of it. Oliver walked into the shallow water, and I followed him carefully, walking around the part of the island that is raised up. He disappeared... I thought I had lost him for a moment, but then upon pressing forward and looking down, I saw that there was an opening on the side of the island. A cave._

_Cautiously, I went back around and stepped down into the shallow water, being very careful to make as little noise as possible. It's in the middle of December and the water was freezing. My feet were chilled to the bone and I shuddered at the icy wind. I crept through the opening of the cave. I was careful not to make any noise. I couldn't see Oliver. I was scared to death I would run into him here. What might he do to me? I didn't want to think about that. But the cave went on in a linear path, and as I rounded a corner, I saw him and stopped suddenly. I was afraid he would suddenly look in my direction and I would be caught, but he didn't. I saw that he was standing quite still. The cave came to a dead end, yet opened up into a widened area. One thing I noticed that didn't make any sense was that I could see the area perfectly considering the cave was generally pitch black. It was also nighttime. I'd had to be very careful making my way through the cave, in fact. I'd even wondered how Oliver could be moving through the cave easily without any sort of light. But while the rest of the cave was pitch black, I could see this area perfectly. It made no sense. But neither did the strange object Oliver was standing before. I couldn't see it clearly, because I was not close to it, but it was metal all around, and in a weird shape._

_Oliver stood before it, perfectly still, unmoving, unblinking. It was all very scary. Then, all of a sudden, a bright red light started coming from the object. There was also the sudden unusual feeling of a presence. I cannot describe how or why I felt that, but all of a sudden I knew that there was something else in that space._

_The red light illuminated everything, and I pulled back and hid around the corner, I had this horrible fear the red light would find me and I would be exposed. Yet, I could not withhold my curiosity. I peeked around the corner. Oliver was being bathed in the red light. His appearance was as if he was on fire._

_The red light illuminated the room, but it was as if it was being drawn to him, absorbed into him. Oliver started speaking, but he was not speaking in English. It sounded like no other language I'd ever heard of. Then, the metallic object started to talk back in the same language! It chilled me to the bone! But then... I swear, I started to be able to see it! It was there!_

_We have been taught on manifestations and transfigurations... Oliver had indirectly claimed to have made contact with God and become a prophet! I was most certainly convinced this was the case now. _

_That I felt horror at what I saw doesn't cause me much doubt for a second that it was God. The scriptures do speak of the terrifying and horrifying reactions one would have upon seeing the face of God for the first time. Indeed, isn't that what the whole world will feel when that day finally comes?_

_But what did it mean of his implications of sacrifice? _

_I feel utterly terrified. Oh, how I wish my faith were stronger! I wish I could give in fully to Divine Will, but yet, at that very moment, I suddenly started to realize just how much I valued my own life! I have a family! I enjoy my life in the town very much! I am attached to the things of this world! I want to live!_

_The scriptures say:_

_'We are not conformed to this husk of a world perishing in all ignorance and lack of knowledge, but we are continually enlightened, transformed into the essence of God and the Universe, yet if a man loves the world and the things of the world, the power of ignorance and darkness is truly strong within him, and the love of the Divine Will of the Holy Father is not in him..."_

_Yes. I love the things of this world far more than the Divine Will. I love the life I live. Is it so bad that things might be ending soon? I was scared. I am scared. I needed to think. I carefully got out of that cave as fast as I could. As I started to leave, it seemed the conversation Oliver was having ceased. As I walked around the island and hit the beach, I could've sworn I heard footsteps behind me in the shallow waters. Oliver must have been right behind me! I fled as quickly as I could. I hoped I would run into Robert, but he was not in the crew room nor our quarters. I could hear the footsteps making their way purposefully up the stairs,_

It took Zack a moment to realize that there _were_ actual footsteps coming up the stairs and not just in what he was reading. He froze in shock and sudden fear. He could hear them making their way up, strong, loud, not fast, but at a normal pace... yet moving with purpose. He turned off his flashlight and pulled himself into a dark corner of the room. He listened carefully. The footsteps were on their way up to the second landing where he was.

So, someone else was in the lighthouse with him after all! He realized now that he had been possibly busted! Or maybe someone had followed him from town. Was this it? Was the jig up? He heard only one pair of footsteps. Zack was fully prepared for assault if need be. He had only his flashlight, but that would be enough. But what if there were more of them?

The footsteps were almost to the second landing... then they stopped. Zack held his breath. He listened. Nothing. Was the person waiting on the stairs? Was he waiting for Zack to chance drawing himself out? Zack waited for about 10 minutes. The movement did not resume itself. Zack would have no choice. He couldn't wait forever. Cautiously, he opened the door. No one at the landing. He chanced moving carefully down the stairs. No one. No one at all. He went all the way as far back as the entrance to the lighthouse, pausing to check the crew room as he went by. He did not find a single soul.

Confused, he worked his way back to where he had started. It suddenly occurred to him. Was the lighthouse haunted? Had he perhaps heard a ghost? Maybe one of the ghosts of the crew members? Maybe when he'd started reading about Oliver coming up the stairs, he had actually heard...

No, that was crazy. Maybe the person was somewhere else in the lighthouse. Maybe the person had switched to tiptoeing and was now on a higher level. Maybe someone was trying to scare him. Maybe they were toying with him before they finally got the drop on him. Or maybe this place was just getting to him and his imagination was causing him to imagine he'd heard footsteps. This _was_ a downright creepy place. And that journal, he wasn't sure how much of James's story he actually believed, but the story was weirding him out quite well so far. Yet, it was also his first major clue. After he was done searching the lighthouse top to bottom, he was going to go down and see if he could find that cave. If he could verify the cave was for real, it might tell a lot.

_Maya... could it really be possible you were here and stumbled onto something you shouldn't have seen? Am I on the verge of stumbling onto something I shouldn't see?_

James' letter made it quite clear now what the big secret to the municipal building was. Zack now wanted more than ever to have a peek inside. But he knew that would be physically impossible. Even being here, in this place, right now, he was really pushing it.

Zack made his way back to the crew quarters, being cautious the entire way. He took the pages from the trunk again and resumed where he had left off.

_I could hear the footsteps making their way purposefully up the stairs, and it chilled me to the bone. I know this is rather childish, but I actually hid under the bed. He came into our quarters. I did not make a sound. He stopped and just stood there for a while. I have no idea how long he was standing there, though it felt like forever. What was he doing? Was he looking for me? Did he know I was there? Eventually he left. I could hear him heading up to his room. Eventually Robert came back. He'd been on a run into town to get some supplies. I don't know if I should tell him. I could get into serious trouble for writing these things down. I also think I'm in serious trouble for the fact that I am fearing for my life._

_It is written in the scriptures:_

_'For if any man wish to preserve his life, the will of the Divine Father is not in him, and in him is all ignorance and darkness and all the transgressions of the hollow corrupted Earth. But if any man give himself over to divine transfiguration, sacrifice, and all forms of holiness in accordance with the will of the Divine Father, he shall be transcended, and his fullness shall be restored to that which it was before the very beginning of time. He shall not endure the wrath to come, but shall be reformed into the Likeness of God, and he shall become like God, and he shall become God. But whosoever defies the Divine Will of the one true Lord shall be tormented day and night. He shall not be like those who live in ignorance in the outside world who shall be punished on that Great and Horrible Day, but he, who had the truth and spit upon it, shall be tormented forever and ever in the farthest realms of Outer Darkness and there shall be no rest for him forever and ever.'_

_I should not fear for my life. I should give it up willingly. To protect myself is to defy our God. But why am I suddenly thinking of running away, getting away from this town altogether? I might never make it, of course. But I am also thinking of killing Oliver. Maybe I could get to him before he gets to me. But if I raise my hand against the chosen of God, will not my efforts be in vain? I pray for my lack of devotion. I have to admit, when I saw Oliver talking to God in that cave, I didn't have the reaction I would have expected to have. Potential proof of our religion should have filled me with renewed hope. But at the sight of God, it was all I could feel but horrific dread. I know I'm sounding like a full heretic now, but if Oliver has truly made contact with God… God scares me. I hope that when the time comes, I can give up my life willingly. Then I, too, shall be standing in the sun on That Day..._

_- James Wolff_

Zack took the pages, tucked it in his large coat pocket where it actually fit, and zipped it up. He had no idea what to think of what he had just read. But this was a gem that would come in handy later.

Archimedes had told him that the religion was just a sham and simply used to control the people. A very strange thought occurred to Zack, one that he could not possibly believe he was having...

_What if it actually was real?_

Now, he certainly didn't think that out of all the world's religions this one just happened to be the one that was completely true and trustworthy. But what if it was based off not so much of a sham but there was actually some sort of otherworldly power at work here? Ridiculous, but...

Why _had_ Archimedes invited him to that service? Why had he lied to him the night before inviting him to that service, putting on that show, and then pulling him into his office to divulge 'the truth?'

If Zack were fully convinced that everything was just a carefully elaborated scheme to keep control over the townspeople and nothing about it was even remotely real, he would have been forced to admit he was at a dead end. He would have had to leave.

What if Archimedes was only trying to get rid of him so he wouldn't dig any deeper? He didn't know. He was confused about everything. None of it seemed to add up nor make any coherent sense at this point.

Zack looked at his watch. 1:50. He was going to keep digging. He didn't have much time left, but by God, he was he going to keep digging. He left the crew's quarters and began climbing the final stairwell. He was going to check out Oliver's room next. He half expected to be assaulted when he entered. The door was right in front of him on the third landing, and a ladder was off to his left, leading up to where the aerodrome lens was. Zack headed for Drake's room first.

Zack flashed his light all around. It was an office. This was where the head lighthouse keeper did all his work, kept his logs, and all that sort of stuff. The huge desk taking up a third of the small room was covered with paraphernalia and important papers pertaining to running the lighthouse. There was not much else. There were some paintings on the wall, but that was about it. There was another door behind the desk on the far wall. He opened it and looked inside, still half expecting someone to jump out. Just clothes. It was just a closet.

He closed the closet door and shined his light down onto the desk. The first thing he went for was the drawers. He opened the first drawer and saw the first oddity.

There were some papers inside that apparently Oliver had done some drawings on. They were not great drawings. They were very crude, done with colored pencils, and looked like something a child might have done in grade school.

The first one had a bulky, graying object in the center. It had four square holes running horizontally, each colored a different color. Yellow... Red... Blue... Purple.

There was a blackish thing hovering above it. Two red spots were in it... eyes?

Zack turned the paper over. On the back was written: The Divinity

The next drawing was of the lighthouse. The light was shining out over the waters, and a meteor was coming down from the sky, angled in the direction of the lighthouse. There was a black stick figure drawing of a man standing on the water, poised towards the lighthouse.

Zack turned this one around. On the back was written: The Harbinger.

The next one was of in the shape of a man, but it was entirely in red. Zack turned this one over: The Prophet

The final piece of paper was some sort of crudely written poem:

_I met a man at the top of the stairs that wasn't there._

_He was red, and had no face, and his appearance terrified me so._

_I gazed into the abyss, and the abyss gazed back._

_I screamed, and turned, and ran._

_When I had run as far as I dared, I came upon a looking glass._

_I looked inside, and I realized that I had become the red man._

_When a man gazes into the abyss, does the abyss not gaze back at him?_

_When a man looks the divine in the face, does he not become divine himself?_

_If a man looks into the face of God and lives, does he not become God too?_

Nothing was written on the back of this one. Zack folded these up and stuck them in his other coat pocket and zipped it up. There was nothing else of interest in the desk drawer. He tried the others, but found nothing else of interest in them either. He shined his light back on the desk. There was a large book sitting right in the middle of the desk. He had assumed upon first looking upon it that it was just a log book, but just in case, he opened it up and had a look inside.

The name 'Oliver Drake, 1896' was written inside the front cover. Zack turned a page. He was shocked to realize that he was looking at Oliver's personal journal! Jackpot! 

He turned the pages quickly, perusing for anything of interest. He would not have time to sit here and read the whole thing, and the book was far too big to stuff in his coat or carry with him.

He flipped to the middle of the big book. As he skimmed passages, flipping pages rapidly, one caught his eye. He knew this was what he was looking for. He backed up several entries, trying to find the beginning of this particular time frame. Then he began reading:

_October 18, 1901_

_The loneliness overtakes me... first losing my wife, then my two little girls. Fate can be so cruel. Added to the miscarriage of my first child, it seems almost as if God spits in my face. He does not want me to be happy. Father Josiah encourages me that God has good reason for everything, nothing He does is without purpose in the Divine Plan. I don't know if I believe that anymore. Did God really need to take Maria and my two... no, THREE girls? What purpose could it possibly serve in the whole of the Divine Plan? I cannot bear it. I dare not go seeking after happiness again, for I am sure it would be taken from me once more. I am losing my faith... I am searching harder than ever before. I want answers. I want the truth. I call out the name of God, but He does not answer me._

_- Oliver Drake_

_October 30th, 1901_

_This job suits me. I am alone with my thoughts. One might think it necessary to surround oneself with lots of people and lots of love when recovering from as great a tragedy as this in one's life. Not me. The more people who come into my life, the more torment I am setting myself up for affliction in my soul. I cannot stand it anymore. Here, in solitude, this is peace. I have shut the door to the outside world. I shall never leave this post. I shall let no one into my heart, lest they fill the void inside my weak existence and then are taken from me to make it bigger than ever before. My crewmates must think I'm a cold man - and that is true, perhaps - but I do not dislike nor despise anyone. This is simply the only way I can exist. It's just me and God - though I often doubt nowadays if his presence really exists or if He is even real._

_- Oliver Drake_

_November 13th, 1901_

_I had a dream last night. I was surrounded by a void of total darkness. The eyes of God looked out at me through the darkness. He told me: "Everything that has happened has been for a purpose. I am about to restore you. You shall have a greater destiny than all who have come before you and shall yet come after you. You are my prophet." The dream comforted me, yet terrified me. I know it was just a dream, but the idea that God might have a special purpose for me - how I so long for it to be true!_

_- Oliver Drake_

_December 1st, 1901_

_I felt led to go for a walk around the island today. It is often said that when we feel led sucH as in the way I feLt it is the prompting of God moving to show us something. That's how I Felt. I cannot describe it. He led me down to the beach on the back of the island, and directeD Me to walk in the shallow waters around the island, the part where it elevates up. I did so, and behold, I CAme across an opening in the side of the ISland. I did not have a lIGHt on me, but I felt compeLLed to move forward anyways. Funny thing, I could actually see everything in front of me clearly without a light, though it was acTually pitch black inside. I came to the enD of the cave, to a large, open area. I saw it: it was a large thIng, made of metal. What it was for sure, I could not be certaiN. But then it came alive, and GoD appeared before me. Yes, it was God. He revealed that He had given the dream to me. He had CaLLed me to Him so that I could fulfill a greatEr purpoSe. He gaVe me just a small DOse of His divine spirit. I caN already fEEl myself chanGing inside. it's WONderful._

_- DraKe Oliver_

The rest of the entries had no date.

_aLL must be StriPPed AwaY. aLL eVil is beGeTTen of IgnoRance. tHe otherS do nOt knOw tHis. tHey aRe LosT. AlL are lOst. BuT thEy wILL stIll have a pArT in The DiviNe plAn. God'S merCy is InfIniTe. He haS shown ThuS to Me._

_- OliveR Dr_

_mY identiTy waS revEAled to Me toDay._

_-ThE ProphEt DraKe OliVer?_

_I CAN THINK MORE CLEARLY THAN EVER BEFORE. JAMES, HE WILL WORK AGAINST US. THERE IS MUCH WORK TO BE DONE. BUT HE IS PART OF THE PLAN TOO. HE IS ONE OF THE SACRIFICES. THE LORD'S WORK MUST BE DONE. I MUST CARRY OUT MY PLAN SOONER SO THAT HIS SOUL CAN BE SAVED TOO. GOD'S MERCY IS INIFINITE, BUT HIS WRATH IS ALSO HARSH AND UNRELENTING._

_- THE PROPHET_

_THERE IS A HARBINGER COMING. HE WILL BRING ABOUT THE GLORIOUS APPEARING. I HAVE BEEN SHOWN THIS. THE MORE GOD POURS HIS SPIRIT INTO ME, THE MORE I GAIN PERSPECTIVE. I AM NOT THE SAME PERSON AS BEFORE. THEY DO NOT REALIZE THIS. ALL IS ABOUT TO CHANGE. THE HARBINGER INTRIGUES ME. AND I HATE HIM. AM I NOT THE ONE CHOSEN TO HERALD IN THE NEW AGE? BUT I AM JUST A PROPHET, THE PRIEST WHO HOLDS OPEN THE DOORWAYS, THE NECESSITY TO HERALD IN THE END. BUT IT IS HIS BLOOD THAT IS NEEDED, HIS POWER. WHO IS OF MORE USE TO GOD? ANYONE COULD HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BRING ABOUT THE SACRIFICE, BUT IT IS HIS BLOOD AND SPIRIT WE NEED, HIS SOUL SPECIFICALLY. GOD HAS REVEALED THUS TO ME. I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. I HATE HIM. I AM JEALOUS OF HIM. I WANT IT TO BE MY BLOOD THAT IS THE PERFECT SACRIFICE._

_- THE PROPHET_

_MY VISION TRASCENDS BEYONDS TIME AND SPACE. I CAN SEE EVERYTHING MORE CLEARLY NOW. THE MORE I MERGE WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD THE MORE I AM ABLE TO SEE WITH HIS EYES. I AM TRANSCENDING INTO MY DIVINITY._

_- THE PROPHET_

_IS IT TOO MUCH THAT EVEN IN MY OWN TRANSCENDENCE I STILL WISH TO BE THE ONE WHO IS THE FINAL SACRIFICE WHO BRINGS ABOUT THE END OF THE AGE? I MAY BE DIVINE, REFORMED, TRANSFORMED, YET I ALL I AM DOING IS HELPING MOVING EVENTS ALONG. I AM NOT THE TRIGGER. I WANT TO BE THE TRIGGER. BLOOD MUST BE SPILLED. THAT IS THE TRIGGER. THE HARBINGER HAS BEEN CHOSEN FOR THIS PURPOSE. HIS MIND. HIS GIFT. I AM NOT THE HARBINGER. WHAT I AM DOING IS NOT ENOUGH. I WANT TO BE THE HARBINGER. I WANT MY DESTINY TO THE MOST IMPORTANT IN THE EYES OF MY GOD. I DESPISE THE HARBINGER. HE DOES NOT EVEN KNOW OUR GOD. HE DOES NOT CARE! I CARE. I SHOULD BE THE ONE WHOSE BLOOD IS SPILT. BUT I DO NOT HAVE HIS SOUL. I LUST AFTER HIS SOUL. IS THAT SO WRONG?_

_- THE PROPHET_

_I HAVE SEEN A GREAT HORROR. THE HARBINGER - HE WORKS AGAINST US! THIS IS THE RESULT OF GOD HAVING CHOSEN A LAWLESS MAN. HE SEEKS TO RUIN US BECAUSE HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND! I BRING MY PETITION BEFORE GOD, BUT HE ASSURES ME THIS IS THE WAY THINGS MUST HAPPEN. I LOATHE THE HARBINGER. I CAN SEE HIM. I CAN SEE HIS EVERY MOVE. HE WORKS IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE. HE IS IN ALL SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND I CAN SEE HIM SIMULTANEOUSLY. I CAN NOT SEE THE END RESULT BECAUSE GOD HAS NOT REVEALED THAT TO ME BUT I CAN SEE THE HARBINGER TRYING TO UNRAVEL EVERYTHING WE HAVE CREATED! HE WALKS OUR DESERTED STREETS, UNCOVERING OUR SECRETS! THE SUCCESSOR DID NOT DO HIS JOB... HE IS LOST IN SOME IGNORANCE, SURELY! THE PEOPLE GOD CHOOSES TO WORK WITH! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND! THE SOULS OF EVERYONE HAVE NOT BEEN YET ABSORBED INTO GOD, YET THEY HAVE... I CAN HEAR THEM, YET THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED YET. IT'S NOT ENOUGH. I REMEMBER WHEN SUCH A THING WOULD HAVE ONCE HORRIFIED ME BUT I SEE CLEARLY NOW. THE WOMAN THAT WALKS MY LIGHTHOUSE POKING AROUND - I WANT HER SOUL TOO! I WANT THE HARBINGER'S SOUL MOST OF ALL. I AM STARTING TO FEEL A SORT OF FEAR. SURELY GOD WOULD NOT PLAY A DECEPTION, BUT I AM ALMOST CERTAIN I AM NOT HIS MOST IMPORTANT CHOSEN ONE. I CAN SEE INTO THE FUTURE - I AM MOST CERTAIN I HAVE BEEN DISCARDED FROM IT. WHY CAN'T I SEE THE END RESULT? WHY DOES GOD WITHHOLD IT FROM ME? WHEN I COMPLETE MY END OF THE BARGAIN, WILL I NO LONGER BE USEFUL? THE HARBINGER... I AM CERTAIN HE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO GOD! EVEN IF HE DISAPPEARS TOO I WANT TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT TO GOD INSTEAD OF HIM!_

_- THE PROPHET_

_I CAN SEE HIM. I CAN SEE EVERYTHING HE DOES. HE WALKS THE DOORS FREELY. MY PLACE IS ONLY HERE. WHY? HE MOVES FREELY. I WANT TO SPILL HIS BLOOD. GOD SAYS NOT YET. BUT IT WILL HAPPEN SOMEDAY. I WILL LOOK FORWARD TO IT. MY SPIRIT IS HERE ETERNALLY, YET MY PERSPECTIVE IS BROADENED. I CAN SEE INTO THE FUTURE. I CAN SEE IN THE PAST. IT MATTERS NOT IF MY VISION IS LIMITED. I CAN ONLY SEE WHAT GOD ALLOWS ME TO SEE. BUT THE HARBINGER, I CAN SEE HIM EVEN NOW, IN ANOTHER TIME, READING THESE WORDS THAT I AM WRITING DOWN. IT FILLS ME WITH SUCH LOATHING, SUCH RAGE. I AM STANDING BEHIND HIM EVEN RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE MY SPIRIT IS ALWAYS HERE. I WANT TO SPILL HIS BLOOD._

Zack turned the page.

_I SEE YOU, ZACK MARTIN!_

_- THE PROPHET_

Zack jumped back shocked and his blood ran cold. On instinct, he spun around. He was almost certain that when he did that he would see Oliver Drake, or his spirit, standing right behind him. But he didn't see a thing. He shined his light all over the room. Nothing. He was completely alone. He shined his light back down onto the page. That was his name, all right. How could this be possible? If this had been written ages ago, how could Oliver Drake have possibly known his name? And what was meant by 'Harbinger?' He wondered about this town and Archimedes. This twisted cult, did he actually factor into their plans somehow?

The very thought made him sick.

Perhaps the Zack Martin part was just a coincidence. But how could that be a coincidence? The odds were completely improbable.

But maybe the cult felt like he was important to their plans (what kind of plans?) for some weird reason. Could it be? And why him? What might he have that was so special they could possibly want? And why had they been trying to trick him? Why were they acting like they wanted him to leave? For what purpose? It just didn't make any sense!

Maybe something did happen to Maya. Perhaps they were planning on drawing him here. Maybe his blood was about to be spilled. Or had Oliver simply been a madman?

James, though, had sworn in his journal that he had witnessed Oliver conversing with 'God.'

Zack shuddered. He felt like he was finally beginning to uncover the pieces of the puzzle. There WAS something going on in this small town! And he had been ready to just pack up and leave tomorrow morning! He had believed Archimedes, had nearly completely given up! But here was PROOF. His stupid hunch had actually led to something! His imagination was going ninety-to-nothing. Would they really let him leave town alive? He needed to head back, get his stuff from his room, get in his car, and just take off. But what of these higher connections? Would they not be able to find a way to get him anyways? Had they kidnapped Maya? Was she alive or dead?

His mind was swirling. He needed to compose himself. But there was one thing left to do on this island. He needed to check out that cave. He wanted to see if there was any way he could see the 'Face of God' for himself. He knew this was an utmost dangerous risk, but he had come this far, and he couldn't stop now.

(4)

He moved briskly back the way he came, through the lighthouse. His watch said 2:30. He'd decided to skip checking out the part where the light was. There was likely nothing of interest up there anyways. Time was flying. He just wanted to check out the cave quickly and see if he saw anything of note. He was very apprehensive about what he might find in there. All in all, this had been a night of twisted revelations. He was not sure how much more he could take. However, as it turned out, he wouldn't be required to take much more tonight. His heart sank and caught in his throat as he opened the entrance door to the lighthouse and saw the lights and boats surrounding the island. Looked like a third of the town had turned out. He had been caught.


	8. New Plan

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 7: New Plan**

_Author's Note: Thank you all for the wonderful feedback so far. It means a lot that people are still reading this and remember the first story and what I put in it after all this time. _

_Some very good guesses are being made as to where I'm going with this. I feel compelled to be honest upfront that Cody is not going to play as major a part in this particular sequel (*hint* *hint*). I intended from even several years ago when I was writing the first one to keep this one more Zack-centric, just as the original was Cody-centric, though Cody still definitely has his role to play in this one._

_On a final note, apologies if some chapters seem delayed from time to time. It is important to me to not rush this project. I finished the original story several years ago and have had some time since to get disconnected from what I originally wrote, which means that the challenge for this one is to reconnect with my original thought processes so that I not only carry out all the things I've alluded to before, but that I also make this one mesh very well with the overall saga. What is going on with Fetch Rock in this story has quite a bit to it, and I have to write it at a pace where I'm being careful to make sure it stays coherent and no major, glaring plot "holes" appear. I am constantly re-going through my outline every few chapters I write this story, making notes, clarifying, and trying my best to stay on the course I'm trying to go with it. I am making my best attempt to make this one a decent sequel to the original._

_There will probably be an appendix at the end of this story, just to make sure everything up to the point of the end of this story is completely clear (or as clear as I can make it)._

(1)

There was no hiding himself. A number of them had come up to the island in rowboats and were disembarking. Zack could see the glow of flashlights and electric lanterns, not just from the people getting off the boats, but also across the water from the town. The town was becoming abuzz and stepping outside to see just what was going on.

The men disembarking the rowboats could all see Zack clearly. He was standing in plain sight right outside the front door of the lighthouse. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

Zack had to wonder, not for the first time since he had come to the town, was this it? Was this where they finally did something really bad to him?

He also had to take notice of the number of boats on the island. There had only been a few boats at the docks. Where had all these others come from? He realized there was a very good chance he'd been set up. They'd likely expected and been prepared for him to chance coming out to the island. They'd probably deliberately delayed their response before getting the drop on him.

Illuminated against the lantern light, he could recognize some of the faces that were walking towards him. Ollie Williams, Thomas, Mark Millar, and the big guy and his goons that had almost beat him up outside the municipal building. None of them were smiling. The crowd parted as Archimedes Demarion was making his way through the center. He was not smiling either.

He strode right up to Zack, and Zack braced himself, wondering if Archimedes was about to produce a dagger and start stabbing him to death, or something equally horrible. Instead, Archimedes got right into his face and started raising his voice.

"We let you into our town! We allowed you to conduct your business here! We allowed you to take part in our community! We sympathized with you for your plight and your loss! And no matter how much it invaded our way of life or our privacy, we allowed you to stay here for a while out of compassion so you could search out the answers you seek. We had patience with all the questions you asked. We were not harsh with you. I instructed the townspeople to treat you like one of our own with only the condition that you respect our rules, respect our privacy, and adhere to our wishes at all times. And what do you do? You break our rules, you spit on them, and you violate our trust!"

Zack looked Archimedes in the eyes unflinching. If this was going to be it, Zack was not going to let Archimedes have the satisfaction of intimidating him and breaking him down right to the very end.

"If you are going to do something terrible to me, just hurry up and get it over with. If you are going to kill me just kill me."

"KILL YOU?!" Archimedes roared, practically throwing his hands up. "Are you _still_ on about that conspiracy of yours? Did I not take you in private and set your mind at ease about that? I let you in a little on our private world in a way that most people in the outside world and even in our town will never know! I understood your loss and what you are going through! I genuinely went against my best intuition and tried to help! And apparently it was a mistake, because _still_ you persist and create these delusions in your mind and continue to trespass on our privacy despite our explicit request! When our designated night watch saw evidence of someone prowling around, do you know how upsetting that was? Do you know how unsettling it is to the people here who are not used to outsiders? And the fact that this place, this lighthouse, has long been abandoned! You could have been hurt! We do not want your blood on our hands!"

"Is that a fact? Is that a fact, really?" Zack started yelling back. He didn't care what they thought of him anymore. His fear mixed with anger and adrenaline was rushing right to his head. "Then can you explain that book up there? In the third floor room of the lighthouse? Oliver's journal? The one that mentions me BY NAME and talks explicitly about spilling my blood?!"

Something changed in Archimedes' eyes. He looked genuinely confused, surprised, shocked, and uncertain what to say to that. Then his eyes shifted back to his normal demeanor.

"Zack," he said, and his voice was softer now as he touched Zack gently on the shoulder. "How could there be a journal up there? Oliver had no journal. We would have found it. It would have been confiscated. And he disappeared over a hundred years ago! There is no way he could have mentioned you by name. No one has been in this lighthouse for decades."

"I saw my name in that book! It got weirder and weirder and talked about God and a harbinger and mentioned me by name and a desire to spill my blood! And while I was in the lighthouse I heard footsteps!" Zack said. Zack deliberately avoided mentioning the papers he presently had stuffed in his jacket.

"I was angry..." Archimedes said softly, turning around and throwing his hands up again. He paced a few steps away from Zack as he talked. "…very angry when I was awoken in the middle of the night to find out you had betrayed our trust. It upset me and broke my heart." he turned back toward Zack. "But now, I can see. It is not your fault. You have gone quite mad."

"I HAVE NOT GONE MAD!" Zack yelled.

Archimedes held his hand up to silence Zack.

"Your grief over the disappearance of your wife has torn you apart and has begun making you see things going on that are not happening. This town must have been quite a culture shock to you. With all you are going through, is it any wonder that your imagination has been carried even further away with you? My fault, probably. I should never have invited you to that church service."

"What did you do to Maya?" Zack half yelled at Archimedes.

"As I have gone over with you many times, we have never seen nor encountered your wife..." Archimedes said calmly.

"If you killed her, and are going to kill me eventually anyways, just do it right now! Just end this whole damn charade! I don't even want to go on with the rest of my life if I have to keep going on without her!"

Archimedes was exasperated by this point. "For the last time, we are not going to KILL you, Zack! We are just a peaceful small town, and we mean no ill will towards ANYONE! Your obsession is going to utterly destroy you if you carry on like this! You need to go back home, get some help, and process through your grief! You are still highly upset from the trauma you've gone through and can't think rationally at this point! Trust me, I've been there!"

"I want to see the cave!" Zack said to him.

"Cave?" Archimedes said, confused. Or at least feigning confusion, as far as Zack was concerned.

"The cave on this island! Just show it to me and show me there's nothing inside, and I will admit I was wrong and delusional, and I'll leave peacefully and never trouble your small town again."

"There is no cave on this island." Archimedes said.

"I don't believe you!"

Archimedes gave a frustrated smile.

"You are no longer welcome in our town Zack."

"Getting too close for personal comfort?"

"Not getting close at all!" Archimedes said, pulling the disc Zack had stolen from his home out of his coat pocket. "Mostly because there is nothing worth getting close to. Do you want to know what is on this disc? It's a blank. I have these stashed all over my house. I was hoping I could trust you. But your mental psychosis is worse than I thought."

"How can I believe a thing you say when every other word or act that comes from you is a deception?"

"All that we have ever done in this town is for the greater good."

"The greater good, huh?"

"Yes. The greater good of the community and the people who live here. That's all it's ever been about. Nothing else. Our focus is entirely centered on the people here. Not you. Not any sort of conspiracy you might dream up. Certainly nothing to do with anyone living on the outside world."

"I still don't believe..." Zack started.

"Enough!" Archimedes exclaimed angrily, looking him in the eyes. "I've had enough of this! I'm fed up! You will be escorted back to your hotel room. You will get what sleep you may, and then you will be up bright and early and escorted to your car. You will get in your car, turn the keys, and you will leave this place and never return. If we ever do catch you around here again, we will file a complaint with the Quincy police department and press charges. We will not KILL you, but this is private property, and you are a trespasser. We will not be so lenient if you ever trespass on our grounds again. You are hereby banned from Fetch Rock for as long as you shall live. We're done here."

Archimedes turned around and began walking away. Ollie and Thomas came up and grabbed each of Zack's arms as they began escorting him away.

"You guys can lighten up. I've got nowhere to go." Zack said.

"No can do." Ollie said. "You break trust, we have to learn not to trust you."

Zack was silent. He was fuming on the inside.

Nothing was said on the trip back to town. Ollie and Thomas rowed swiftly. The others in the other boats rowed swiftly beside them. Thomas didn't look at him the entire time, but Ollie would shoot regular glances at him out of the corner of his eye every so often.

They escorted him through town, and it seemed everyone had turned out. It was just like it had been when he'd first arrived. He was once again the spectacle. He didn't see Mary or Jerry as he was escorted him to his room. When they arrived at his room, Ollie said: "We're going to be right outside this door. Don't even think about trying to leave for any reason, okay?"

Zack said nothing and turned around. The door closed behind him. The lights were off, though Zack didn't bother turning them on. He could see in the darkness that his stuff had been rearranged. Obviously, they had searched everything thoroughly and had left a show of doing so.

The first thing Zack did was open his bag and check for his writable CDs. They were still there! He even found the small inconspicuous mark he had made on the one. They must have thought he wouldn't have been smart enough to copy the disc. Or maybe they just weren't that thorough at all.

Zack opened another pouch on one of his bags. He pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter. Zack was not normally a smoker, not on most occasions at least. When he had turned 18, he had temporarily taken up the habit. He'd thought it made him look cooler, portrayed him as more of a man. When Maya had gotten back from the Peace Corps, she had made him quit. A nasty habit, she had said. She was right. But he still kept a pack around at all times. He saved it only for occasions when he was really bothered or stressed.

He put one in his mouth and lit it up, inhaling and instantly savoring the sweet and painful feeling of the smoke passing through his lungs. He wondered if smoking in his room was a violation. Not that he actually gave a shit. It helped him to calm down.

He stood up from the floor and chanced glancing out the window. There was a man standing down there, staring straight up at his window. He wasn't surprised. He was their prisoner. They weren't going to let him pull anything again.

He finished the cigarette, and thought of going for another, but he decided to save them for later. Not bothering to take off his clothes, he simply took his shoes off and snuggled under the covers of his bed. He was not about to go asleep. He didn't know that they wouldn't actually try to do something to him in his sleep. He needed at least some rest for the trip tomorrow, though.

He sighed. He recapped the events of the day and of the entire previous week. Everything was such a whirlwind in his mind. His life had been normal and wonderful just months ago. Now he was stuck in the Twilight Zone and his entire world was turned upside down. Everything was so surreal. Nothing seemed real anymore.

He had pretty much given up hope of ever seeing Maya again by this point.

Zack thought about his name in Oliver's journal. He reached over the side of the bed and grabbed his jacket, feeling the pockets once more before tossing it back on the floor.

He still had the pages and the drawings. Those were real. But Oliver's journal: Zack wondered if it was possible that he was going mad? He wondered if he would take the papers out the following morning and find them blank or something. Or in his handwriting. Then he would have proof that he really was going mad.

He laid in bed till the sun came up, expecting someone to come creeping into his room at any point. No one did. When the sun finally began to rise, he got a sharp knock on his door. Ollie peaked in and said: "It's time. Get yourself ready to go. We'll escort you to your car." Zack, still lying in bed, simply looked over and nodded.

(2)

He took a shower, changed his clothes, and brushed his teeth. He gathered his luggage together and made sure everything was accounted for. Then he cracked his door open and told Ollie and Thomas he was ready. They led him silently through the house, not holding onto his arms this time, but walking side by side very close. He passed by the checkout desk and saw Mary and Jerry looking at him, the same cold looks they'd had when he'd first arrived.

They led him out of the house to where his car sat waiting. There were a lot of people gathered around, watching. Archimedes was waiting at the head of the cobblestone path. When Zack came out of the house with Thomas and Ollie, Archimedes started walking up to Zack.

"Zack..." he said. Zack said nothing in response. He had nothing more to say to Archimedes. "I'm so sorry things did not have turn out differently. I really do hope you find her again. I truly do. And if you don't, I will pray that you will be able to someday find peace within your heart and move on."

Zack wanted to call him out as a hypocrite for praying for him when Archimedes had claimed back in his office that he more or less didn't even believe in God. He wanted to call him out on his attested hypocrisy in front of all these people. He didn't dare, though. He knew it would not go over well, to give the understatement of the year. He simply nodded and allowed Ollie and Thomas to escort him to his car.

"Oh! Zack!" Archimedes said, walking toward Zack again as if he'd just remembered something. Archimedes pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and started writing on it. He handed it to Zack. Zack saw it was a telephone number. "Since I feel partly responsible for all this, if you do decide to get help and need to process what you've witnessed here, give me a call. I would be more than happy to help you on your road to recovery."

Zack didn't say anything as he pocketed the piece of paper. He briefly thought of tearing it up in rage the moment he got out of town, but realized it might be invaluable to keep around. Just in case he needed it later.

"Do you have enough gas to get back?" Ollie asked him.

"I filled up when I first arrived." Zack responded.

"Good. You know how to get back?"

"Yes."

Ollie ignored him and recapped it with him anyway, just to make sure he didn't get lost. Zack thanked him, striving hard to push back the anger he was feeling inside. Zack got in his car and turned the ignition. He pulled out and began making his way out of town. Everyone from the town was standing outside watching him. As his car headed for the route that would take him out of Fetch Rock, the people followed him, obviously wanting to keep a close watch on him and make sure he really left.

As the town disappeared from sight and Zack was once again on the trail through the forest, he wondered how long it would be before his car exploded. Or how long it would be before another car suddenly appeared out of nowhere and he was assaulted. Or – better yet – maybe they had released a poisonous snake somewhere in his vehicle. Or spiders. Or something. His imagination was really running away from him. He watched too many movies, maybe. But he really wouldn't put anything past these people.

Nothing happened to him, though, and he was genuinely surprised when he made it to the next town. He stopped back in the diner he'd been to before, perhaps a mistake, because the regulars recognized him and began assaulting him with questions about his stay in the town. He gave vague answers, not really letting in on the extent of the weirdness he had encountered there. Honestly, he just wasn't in the mood to talk about it. He noticed one of the employees - a guy he was certain was actually the manager - watching him closely. That kind of unsettled him.

He realized he was likely not going to be able to not be paranoid for a long period of time. Perhaps they would let him get away. They'd give him a long enough time to have been away from the town so that there would be no traceable connection back to them, and just when he was finally starting to feel safe, an unfortunate accident would occur.

He drove all the way back to Boston and checked his rental car in.

He thought about spending a night in the Boston Tipton. Perhaps spending a nostalgic night in his childhood home would help him feel better. Maybe Moseby would even be able to give him his old suite he'd lived in growing up. Reconnecting with Moseby and Emma might be enjoyable. He started reminiscing about all the memories he had from his past. From the hotel to attending high school on the ship, there had been such good times back then. Full of laughter, fun, and joy. He missed them.

He decided against staying at the hotel, though. He was just too wired, still feeling paranoid, and with he had the evidence he currently had in his possession, he felt more urgently inclined to see Cody.

James's papers were in his bag and were unchanged from when he'd found them in the Fetch Rock lighthouse.

He took the LimoLiner to New York, as it was the fastest way of getting there. He texted Cody on his phone:

_Going to be arriving in NY at about 8 PM. Sorry for dropping in unexpectedly, but I have some stuff I desperately need to show you. It's about the case with Maya. New developments. You gonna be there?_

Three minutes later he got the text back:

_Sure! Come on over! Looking forward to having you! :)_

Zack smiled. He leaned back in his chair. If there was one good way to ease his mind from all that had happened, he was looking forward to seeing his brother and Bailey again. They were sure to lift his spirits at least a little. He hadn't even realized how tired he was till now. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep, and he slept the rest of the entirety of the trip.

(3)

_The lighthouse was beckoning the meteor. But the meteor was also underneath the lighthouse. He could see it. He could also see Oliver standing in front of it. The meteor, of course, was the metallic object. Oliver was red, and it looked as if he was on fire. He was having an argument with the object. Then Oliver turned towards Zack, looking him square in the eyes, full of rage and said:_

_'I wish it were me...!'_

_And then Zack was no longer there. He was suddenly in the Tipton hotel. He was walking through the hallways of the Tipton. He was all alone. The place was spooky and it creeped him out. He knew he shouldn't have been feeling such fear, but he had this strange innate feeling he was all alone, no one in the rooms around him, no one anywhere in the entire hotel._

_'Hello?' he found himself calling out, but there was no answer. He suddenly realized he was not calling out with his adult voice, but the one he'd had when he'd been a child._

_As he walked on and on through endless hallways, he was feeling more and more frightened. Suddenly, he sensed a presence behind him. He whirled around to see it standing there: tall, dark, completely black, shape of a man, but all crooked and strange and weird._

_It had come for his soul. He knew this instantly. He turned and began running. The hallways were becoming an endless maze. He didn't care where he went, though, as long as he could keep on running. He had to get as far away as possible. He just prayed he didn't come to a dead end. Where had everyone gone? Why was no one else around? He turned the corner and ran into someone. It caused him to shriek, then he realized it was Cody, the 11 or 12 year old version of Cody from when they'd been kids._

_"Whoa, Zack, are you okay?" he asked, a little surprised._

_"What are you doing here?" Zack found himself asking._

_"Everyone is gone now. I came here to find you. I'm so glad you're alive."_

_"I saw a Dark Man!" Zack told him._

_"Yeah. You saw him when we first moved in here, too. But you forgot. He's upset he lost your soul. He wants it back. He always wants it. But he would have never been able to keep it anyway. One way or another, it was their intent to call it off."_

_Zack looked at Cody, confused about the things Cody was saying. "Call it off? Who are 'they?' What is that thing? What do you mean by 'call it off'?"_

_"They weren't expecting it would lose the battle without their interference. They're a little more scared than they'd like to admit. Or at least, the man with the golden mask is. He knows he has to be cautious. One slip up, something done with just the slightest incorrect timing, and everything they've fought for will all fall apart. The Prophet is helping him with that. The Dark Man is a lesser entity. He failed. He was defeated. But he's not the one you have to watch out for."_

_"W-who am I supposed to watch out for, then?" Zack asked him._

_Cody looked him dead in the eyes and started speaking something familiar._

_"I met a man at the top of the stairs that wasn't there._

_He was red, and had no face, and his appearance terrified me so._

_I gazed into the abyss and saw its true form, and it gazed back._

_I screamed, and turned, and ran._

_When I had run as far as I dared, I came upon a looking glass._

_When I looked inside, I realized that I had become something else._

_When a man gazes into the abyss, does the abyss not gaze back at him?_

_When a man looks darkness in the face, does he not become darkness himself, if he doesn't have the courage to defy it?_

_If, like Oliver, he looks upon the face of God, and it is not God at all, and if the spirit of this false God comes to dwell within him, does he not, in some sense, become a Blasphemy, too?"_

_"Blasphemy?" Zack asked._

_"That is what they are called. The reverse incantation. His spirit is poured out in many, the one of the man in the golden mask, but they can't complete their work without the one to bring them all together. He wants you, for you have that ability. He wants you specifically, because it will satisfy revenge for what happened in the time that no longer exists. You have been chosen, not just by the plans of the powers of darkness, but by something even higher than all of them. I can't fight the battle this time around. I do not have what's locked away in your mind. It's what they need. But they will be defeated. It's your destiny to stand against it on the Day of Evil."_

_"I don't understand. This doesn't make any sense. What am I standing up against?"_

_"The Dark Man was just the beginning."_

_Cody glanced behind Zack, and Zack turned around to see a red man standing a ways behind him. The red man appeared as if he was on fire. He had no face._

(4)

Zack opened his eyes, and reality began to fade in. The dream had left him with his adrenaline spiking and his heart racing. As he rubbed his eyes, and the dream faded back into being what it was, just a dream, not reality, he realized just how stressed he really was by this point.

The whole experience of Fetch Rock had been pretty messed up. His dreams were probably going to be pretty messed up from now on too. The attendant came by and asked if he wanted anything to eat or drink. He passed, and she told him that they would be arriving in ten minutes.

He sat back, still groggy, and closed his eyes. He didn't fall asleep again. He tried his best to calm down his tumultuous mind. No go.

(5)

Zack was greeted with a very warm welcome when he arrived at Cody's house. Cody lived in an upscale middle class neighborhood. His house was modest, just perfect for him and his family. First Cody came out and hugged him, then Bailey, and then his two little nephews, twins, both 5, rushed out excitedly and pretty much crawled all over him. He greeted them enthusiastically. They wanted nothing but to jump all over him and play with him, but Bailey ushered them inside to help her with dinner so Zack and Cody could talk privately for a while.

Zack could see there was something in Cody's eyes that betrayed a type of excitement, some kind of news that he was dying to share with someone but was holding back until just the right moment. He could tell. They were twins, and Zack had seen that look many times on Cody growing up.

As Zack settled into a chair in Cody's office where they could talk privately, Zack probed: "Okay. I know you're dying to share something. Go on and get it out of the way!"

Cody leaned forward and said excitedly:

"I've got another one on the way!"

Zack had a look of surprise on his face.

"Oh, really? Holy cow. Congratulations, man!"

"I just found out this afternoon! I was about to text you just before you texted me!"

"I'm really happy for you, man!" Zack said, excited for his brother.

They exchanged pleasantries for a while, before Cody finally switched to the subject of whatever Zack obviously had on his mind:

"So, what's up with this 'new development' you mentioned? Did you find something out? Is it bad, or…?"

"Okay..." Zack said, taking a deep breath and preparing himself. "This is going to be a very long story, and it's going to be very weird. Very, very, weird. It's going to sound like something straight out of a Twilight Zone episode, but all of it is true, and furthermore, I have proof!"

"Oookaay…" Cody said, giving him a curious look.

Zack started in on everything that had happened, starting with John Tracy's visit to his house, John's cryptic warnings, his trip to Fetch Rock, the weirdness of the town, all the way up to him getting accosted outside the municipal building. Cody sat on the edge of his seat, quiet, not saying anything the entire time, just listening with a highly inquisitive look on his face. Zack didn't get any further than the municipal building before Baily announced dinner was ready, so he would have to finish later.

Dinner was a jovial time. It was a time of catching up and reminiscing about the past. It did a great amount of good for Zack being here like this. For once, he felt like he had entered normal reality once again. For just a short period of time, the absolute strangeness that his world had turned into lately no longer existed. Here, it was just family: him, his brother, and his old friend. And his nephews, of course.

Zack spent some time playing with the kids after dinner, though it was clear Cody was rather impatient to hear the rest of the story. Zack seemed to have really caught his interest, and Cody sent his kids off to bed a little earlier than usual that night, much to their protests. Bailey went with them to read them a bedtime story.

Zack and Cody were once again sitting in the privacy of his office. Zack proceeded to recount the church service. The look on Cody's face was of utter perplexity.

"He actually made people drink his blood?" Cody said, still having a hard time swallowing what Zack had been telling him thus far.

"Yes, and as far as I know, this happens at least once a month."

Zack filled him in on the rest of the details: Archimedes confessing about the deception, the dreams, and finally, the lighthouse. Zack pulled out the papers he'd found in James's trunk and handed them to Cody, letting him peruse it while he summed it all up, including the strange timing of hearing footsteps just as he'd been reading about hearing footsteps.

Cody skimmed through the pages, face scrunched up in a look of sheer bewilderment.

"This sure makes it harder to believe you're making this all up. Not that I would necessarily believe you're making this all up, with it concerning Maya and everything…"

"It gets even weirder, though."

"I can't imagine it getting weirder than all you've already tol… err, shown me." Cody said.

"That's what I had thought."

Zack proceeded to describe his investigation of Oliver's room. He pulled out the papers he had found and showed them to Cody.

"This one is the dream I've been having. This is exactly it." he was indicating the one of the lighthouse and the meteor. "In the dreams, the lighthouse is beckoning the meteor. It's like a beacon or something, showing it where to go. And this word..." he said, flipping the paper around. "...I've actually heard this word in one of my dreams."

"Harbinger..." Cody said. "A person who goes ahead and makes known the approach of another; herald. Or, anything that foreshadows a future event. Omen. Sign."

Cody was the walking dictionary as ever.

"I think the man down here on the water is supposed to be the Harbinger. The meteor and the lighthouse are connected somehow."

"Hmm. I know what the dictionary definition of this word means. But I wonder what THEY mean by this word." Cody said.

"I've been having these dreams since before John knocked on my door. Even before I came up to see you a week ago."

"That's... very fascinating. ESP, maybe?"

"Hell if I know. It gets more disturbing, though. Wait till you find out who, according to Oliver himself, the Harbinger is."

Cody leaned forward. "Try me." Zack showed him the other drawings and the strange poem. Then he started talking about Oliver's journal.

"...and he was going on about how he could see the Harbinger in all times, and how he was watching the Harbinger reading the very words he was writing down at that exact moment. I turned the page, and all the only thing that was written there was: "I see you, Zack Martin.""

Cody's face contorted in surprise and shock when Zack said that.

"That's... um. Wow. I… are you sure this isn't just some kind of weird ghost story you're trying to scare me with?"

"I thought you said you didn't believe I was just making all this up."

Cody stood up from his chair and started pacing. "Yeah, but, what you're saying is getting pretty out there, even for me to be able to rationalize. I'm not saying I don't believe you, but, I just… I don't even know what to say to that."

"I admit it sounds like something straight out of a Stephen King movie, but I swear! That's exactly what happened! My name was right there, in that book! I'M the Harbinger, it said, and I've been having dreams about it even before I knew that town and lighthouse existed!"

"I really don't know what to make of any of this, Zack."

"Just believe me. That's all I ask."

"I want to, I really want to, but this is all very hard to swallow." Cody said, turning to him. "These are some pretty bizarre things you're asking me to buy all at once."

"Haven't we had some pretty bizarre experiences when we were on the S.S. Tipton?"

Cody sighed.

"Yes. True. I'll grant you that. The world can be a pretty strange place. But what you're talking about is pretty extreme, even considering some of the stuff we went through."

"And assuming I haven't lost it and I'm not simply going insane, I think my life is in danger."

Cody looked at him and opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. Zack could see the fear Cody's eyes when he said that. So, at least he seemed to give him the benefit of the doubt to some extent.

"You don't know that, Zack."

"Look, I believe Archimedes when he said he has very high connections. That town does not exist the way it does by the way of just a small group operation. Something happened to Maya near there, and my name was written in that book. This town is a cult, and based off what I've seen, who knows just how whacked out they are, how far this thing is spread, or how far they might go if someone stumbled onto something they shouldn't, but the fact that my name is in that book makes me think now that they've been planning something all along! Maybe they've got Maya captive somewhere there!"

"It is curious that they just up and let you go." Cody mused. "You'd think if they were simply trying to lure you there they wouldn't have done that."

"That part I don't understand either."

Cody looked at him.

"I want to help you, Zack... I just don't know what to do."

"The thing I want most out of you is to believe me and stay out of this. This is my fight. I just wanted you to be aware… just in case…"

"I'm your brother, Zack, and if you are in trouble, I feel obligated to..." Cody started.

"You're also a father and have a loving wife and _three_ kids to provide for and take care of." Zack shot back. "I _refuse_ to take that from them. I want you to live your life, be there for your family, and stay out of this!"

"You can't just expect to come by, tell me a bunch of stuff like this, and expect me to leave it alone! Do you even understand the way my mind is whirling right now?" Cody said animatedly.

"I know, I know…" Zack said, holding his hands up. "It's just that, as far as I know, I'm the only one that factors into their plans. I don't want you getting involved because there's no point in anything happening to both of us if there doesn't need to be."

"At least tell me you're going to bring John Tracy in on this!"

"I don't see any reason to bring him in on this. I don't think there's anything he can really do."

"You _can't_ be planning on going this all alone!"

"I'm just saying, if I disappear, or something happens to me, don't go looking into it. Act none the wiser about any sort of conspiracy that might be going on. I want you to live your life. I want your family to be safe. That's the only thing I want out of you as my brother, as well as your belief in what I've told you."

Cody hung his head, with a look of heavy frustration in his eyes.

Zack suddenly remembered something from the dream he had had on the way here:

"_You have been chosen, not just by the plans of the powers of darkness, but by something even higher than all of them. I can't fight the battle this time around. I do not have what's locked away in your mind. It's what they need. But they will be defeated. It's your destiny to stand against it on the Day of Evil."_

"I have a strong feeling that no matter what happens, whether something happens to me or not, everything will be okay in the end."

"Oh, and how do you know that? Just intuition?"

"From one of my dreams. Just a feeling. I don't think I've been having them for no reason. Maybe this all has a purpose. Maybe it's my destiny to stop something." Cody didn't look like he was buying it.

"I just don't know what to say." he finally said.

"Actually, there IS a way you can help me." Zack said. "That's why I brought this with me..."

Zack pulled out the disc he had copied and explained how he had found it in Archimedes' house.

"He claimed it was blank and that he had blanks hidden all over the house to test me, but a part of me isn't so sure. I don't think he actually expected me to be that bold. Can you decrypt it?"

"Well, I can decrypt near anything, but depending on the content or how heavily encrypted it is, it might take a while."

"That's fine."

"Zack..." Cody said. "I don't think you're crazy, or that you imagined it, I just... can I just actually go to the town with you?"

Zack shook his head. "I'm banned. If they see me, I get arrested. You too. Plus, I don't want you involved. I don't want them seeing your face in town and getting you all mixed up in this. For all I know, they are already watching you. If they are, I don't want you to be a threat to them."

"Maybe I could visit the town by myself using an alias."

"As I just said, if they know who I am, they probably already know who you are. I want you to stay out of this."

"Jeez, Zack. Just what do you expect me to do? Sit back wracked with nervousness the entire time?"

"You have another child on the way." Zack reminded him again.

Cody looked at him like he was chewing it over in his mind and fighting not to protest more.

"I'm very sorry to have come down here and make you worry about me more." Zack said. "I just needed someone to confide in and I didn't know where to turn. But I really don't want you getting mixed up in all this."

"Is there any way I could at least see the lighthouse?" Cody asked him.

Zack shook his head. "You can only get to it from town."

"Can you?" Cody said, giving him a look. "You said this town was right on the coast of New England, right?"

Zack thought about it. Actually, the lighthouse _was_ sitting out in the Atlantic Ocean, so technically if one had a boat and knew where to go, it could actually be approached from anywhere.

Cody could see Zack had caught onto his logic. "The town is on the edge of the Atlantic! We could approach it from somewhere completely out of the way!" Zack said with renewed enthusiasm.

"Then we do that!" Cody said. "When we get close, we cut the power to the boat, and approach manually from behind the island where the town can't see us. Just let me get some maps and I can plot the route and coordinates."

"But they figured out I was on the island before. They all came and swarmed the island while I was still inside." Zack said.

"They were expecting you to do something like that, Zack. If what you say is true, they knew from the moment you left your room. They won't be expecting us to do something like this."

"But it's still dangerous!"

"We're used to danger!" Cody said.

"There's much more at stake now! Haven't you heard what I said about your family? You have so much to live for and protect!" Zack shot back.

"I don't think this will get me involved much. I just want to see, Zack." Cody said.

"For all we know, they're keeping tabs on us right now!"

"Maybe. But maybe you're being overly paranoid. And even if they are, if they're going to do something, doesn't it stand to reason they're going to do it anyway?"

"But if you actively get involved, they might decide to explicitly take action on you as well. And isn't calling me paranoid like the pot calling the kettle black?"

Cody turned red and frowned. "If they're watching us, they know who I am, they know you're talking to me right now, and I'm already in as much danger as you!"

That was also a valid point. Zack looked at him. Zack's fists were clinched to his sides.

"I'm sorry to have dragged you into this, man."

"You're my brother. I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Zack smiled despite himself.

"Okay, we'll think about the lighthouse. But you must promise me one thing."

"Sure."

"If anything ever happens to me, don't go digging further into it. Live your life and protect your family."

"Zack, I don't know if I could…"

"You must! Promise me!"

They looked each other in the eyes. Cody knew that Zack wouldn't let him protest further nor take no for an answer.

"I promise." Cody said reluctantly.

Zack held up his pinky. Cody looked at it for a moment, then reluctantly came over and added his to Zack's. It was a rule between them they'd had since they'd been kids, a pinky swear could not be broken for any reason. Even though they were not kids anymore, it still meant that this was of the utmost seriousness.

That night, Cody spent some time trying to see if he could decrypt the disc. Zack sat in his office on the floor, chatting casually with Cody, while Cody was at his desk tapping diligently away on the computer.

"Hmm." Cody said finally. He looked truly perplexed.

"Find anything?" Zack asked.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing, this disc is definitely not a blank. However, whatever's on here is the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

"What is it?"

"For starters, I can't even get this disc to load. I've tried using multiple programs to crack it as well as a few programs to scan it and give me an analysis as to what kind of content we're dealing with. The readings I'm getting are very… strange and inconclusive. I know this sounds weird, but I would almost swear that whatever's on here is unable to be run on any known operating system currently available on the planet."

"Are you sure about that?"

"No. But I've never seen coding like this before. What's truly bizarre is that, as I've said, it seems to have more to do with the operating system than anything else. Let me break this down as best I can: normally, if it's meant to be run on any OS, such as Windows 95, or XP, or Windows 8, etcetera, the way it's coded would have been shown by the programs I scanned it with right off the bat. But whatever it is, this was not meant for any known commercial system. It's possible that this Hadden Industries company could have designed their own OS, but some of the programs I have include recognition of OS systems not available on the common market. It gets even stranger. I Googled Hadden Industries, and they're presently still a very small technology company located in Montreal, Canada. That's another thing that bugs me. A fairly unknown technology company shouldn't have been able to encode something this advanced looking. I'm actually amazed you were even able to copy and burn this thing. Did the disc you copied look in any way unusual? As in, did the non-label part look in any way different than a normal CD-Rom disc?"

"I didn't really check for that sort of thing. Is it possible perhaps I burned it wrong?"

"It doesn't look like it, from what I scanned. There's definitely a program or something on here. The problem is I just don't know how to crack it. You said that Archimedes implied this conspiracy has high connections. If that's true, it makes me wonder if this was meant for some special OS that's top-secret, maybe government level. It makes me wonder if perhaps Hadden Industries is a dummy corporation or a cover. But here's ANOTHER thing that's really confusing me: as I'm scanning it and trying to get it to load with my programs, it almost appears to be searching for programs one might find on an average computer system, except these programs don't exist yet."

"Come again?"

"Okay, you know how there's DirectX 8, then 9, then 10, and so forth, as newer versions come out to keep up with new technology and certain programs need specific programs like these and certain versions of them in order to be able to run?"

"Yeah." Zack said.

"Well, it's acting like it's wanting whatever program is on the disc to run off of specific programs, but it's as if it's searching for versions that don't exist yet!"

"That's weird. Maybe if it's government level, they have versions that haven't hit the market yet?"

"That would be a valid theory, if it wasn't for the fact that factoring in the rate the new versions would come out based off what the program seems to be searching for, we're looking at... oh, roughly about a hundred years into the future."

"Whoa." Zack said. "That can't be right!"

"I think I CAN crack it." Cody said. "But it may be years before I'm able to! To run it, I will pretty much need to build an entire new OS around it and design dummy programs to act as replacements for the programs it's searching for. This is a pretty heavy workload!"

"So, there's really nothing you can do at this point?"

"I can start on the project now and work on it whenever I can."

"You're still going to try to crack it, even if it takes years?"

"As we have nothing else to go on for right now, sure. It might be important."

"You don't have to go through so much trouble for me!"

"You're my brother, Zack, and I'm worried about you. I'm going through this much trouble for _me_." Cody said emphatically.

Zack felt humbled at Cody saying that.

"Thanks, man. It really means a lot."

Zack stayed at Cody's for the entirety of the following day. He got to spend some time with Cody's kids. As he did, he could feel a familiar ache tugging at his heart along with a brand new one.

He was thinking about the kids he would have had with Maya. He had never thought about it as much before as he was now. And his heart broke, because he felt he might never experience this joy.

Well, perhaps he could get married again someday, but right now, he didn't want to think about having kids with anyone else. He wanted to have kids with Maya.

(6)

Zack returned to LA, but not for long. He and Cody began making plans to sneak back into the lighthouse of Fetch Rock. They both agreed it should be done on a night when there was no moon. One of those nights was coming up in only a week.

Cody told Bailey that he and Zack were going on a camping trip together. The no moon was on a Saturday night, so he was able to sell his story. Cody felt bad about lying to Bailey, though it wasn't a total lie. He WAS spending the weekend with Zack. It was just that this particular weekend was going to include some espionage, and maybe an element of danger.

Zack tried to return to work and catch up with what had been going on with his business during that week to keep his mind off things, but the return to Fetch Rock was all he could keep on his mind.

He still cried every night when he got home and every morning when he woke up. He still wished that none of this was going on and he could just be reunited with his wife once again.

A few nights, he still had the nightmare about the meteor approaching from the sky, and the lighthouse beckoning it forward. And he could have sworn that emanating from the meteor was a voice...

_"ZAAAAAAAACCCCKKK."_


	9. Return To The Lighthouse

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 8: Return To The Lighthouse**

Zack and Cody ended up choosing Boston as their starting point. They could have chosen a smaller port town closer to Fetch Rock, but they decided it would be best to have to answer as few questions as possible in addition to making themselves harder to track. It was much easier to do both by renting a boat from a major port way out of the way.

They left just when the sun was beginning its decline along the horizon. It was strategically planned from Cody's calculations to be totally dark by the time they arrived at the Fetch Rock lighthouse. They kept plenty of gas on board in order to keep the boat fueled during the long trip.

The trip gave Zack and Cody some time to bond and catch up. Zack couldn't help but think this trip would have been better if it had been for nothing more than hanging out. Though they were complete opposites and had had their issues always getting along as kids, he missed the times they'd spent together growing up.

After some time, they came to roughly where the coordinates showed Fetch Rock should be. A shape out in the middle of the water came into view.

"Is that it up ahead?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, I think that's it." Zack responded.

Cody cut the power way down, letting the boat move much slower. As they moved closer toward the shape, it came into better view, and they could make out the definite shape of the Fetch Rock lighthouse.

When they finally arrived a certain distance from the lighthouse, Cody fully cut the power to the boat. It was from there that things got tough. Zack anchored the motor boat, and they blew up an inflatable boat they had brought. They were going to have to row from there. Since it was a no moon night, the stars were their only light. Luckily it wasn't very cloudy. They had flashlights on them, but they didn't dare use them yet. They were silent the entire way. Darkness and silence were their guides tonight.

They approached the island from the back, as planned, and pulled their boat up onto the beach. They walked silently in the dark. No light nor any sign of action shone from the town beyond.

They made their way to the lighthouse and up the stone steps. Zack half expected the door would be locked or barred this time or something. Cody had brought along a bag of tools just in case. They weren't going to worry about breaking and entering much this time around. To Zack's surprise, though, the door was completely unlocked.

"Must have not crossed their minds you might actually come back." Cody said.

"I guess."

Zack wondered if perhaps there might be someone inside. He wondered again, could the footsteps he had heard before have been an actual person stationed out here? Maybe this person had alerted the town on him and that was when everyone had come out. He now felt could beat himself upside the head for waiting up till now to reconsider the idea.

"Cody?" he said.

"Hmm?"

"Those footsteps I heard before... what if there is actually someone stationed here?"

"I have considered the possibility that there might be someone in here."

"What do we do if that's the case?"

"Do you have a better suggestion than the obvious?"

"You mean assault?"

Cody shrugged. "If need be." he whispered.

Zack noted how casually Cody said that.

"You sound like it's no big deal. When did you get so brave?"

"Easy. I wouldn't have to fight. I was thinking I could just push you into them and I'd stand back and be your moral support."

"You're such a good brother."

"I know. I learned it all from you." Cody quipped.

Zack grinned, despite himself. Apparently, there was really nothing they could do but take it all in stride.

Zack and Cody entered the lighthouse. They did not bother with the crew room nor the crew quarters. The main thing Zack wanted to show Cody was that weird journal. Cody raised an eyebrow at the axe on the stairs next to the door with the missing piece.

"What do you think that's all about?" Cody said.

"Don't know. Forgot to mention this."

"How random. And unsettling."

"The only thing I can think of is perhaps it was Oliver's. Maybe he came after James and Robert with it." Zack suggested.

"But that was over a hundred years ago, right? And they still use this lighthouse on a regular basis, don't they? Why would it still be here?" Cody asked.

"Beats me. Maybe to scare people."

"Who? People like us?"

"Maybe it's to scare any townspeople who wander up this way. You know, the legend and all."

"From what you said, though, don't the people here seem pretty dedicated to their own rules and well behaved?"

"It seems that way. But you really think people like us growing up in a place like this would've been?" Zack said.

"Point, I guess." Cody said.

"I've just thought of something else unsettling I hadn't considered." Zack said.

"Oh?"

"What if this is one of their special 'holy nights?' What if a ship comes in to Fetch Rock to deliver supplies? A no moon night would be the perfect night to do it."

"That's another thing that bugs me." Cody said.

"Oh?"

"This town gets supplies through their secret underground tunnels, right? I don't understand why they need this lighthouse. Why bring supplies by boat? Why wouldn't the delivery trucks be sufficient?"

Zack had to think about that. Cody did have a really good point.

"I don't know. I didn't think too much of it at the time Archimedes was telling me about it."

"I'd like to take a look at that lens as well." Cody said.

They reached the top landing and Drake's door. Zack felt nervous. He shouldn't have felt nervous, but still...

_I CAN EVEN SEE HIM NOW, IN ANOTHER TIME, READING THESE WORDS THAT I AM WRITING DOWN..._

_I CAN SEE YOU, ZACK MARTIN!_

They opened the door and entered, their flashlights illuminating the darkened room before them.

"Be careful not to shine it at that window!" Zack cautioned.

"Right." Cody said.

"Right there! That's it!" Zack said.

He was very happy it was still there. He had been scared Archimedes would have taken it. But yet it was right there, exactly as it had been left!

They approached the desk. Cody put his hand on the leather cover and pulled the big book open.

The pages were blank.

Zack was extremely perplexed. Cody flipped through the pages. All blank. Not a single letter nor line of writing on any of them.

"There was writing in this book! This is the journal Drake was keeping! My name was _in_ here! I swear!" Zack attested.

"There's nothing here, Zack."

"Archimedes must have switched them!"

"This _looks _likethe book, though, right?"

"Yes."

"It's possible, I guess." Cody said, closing the book. "Could they really have had another book which looks exactly like the old one?"

"I don't know! I wasn't exactly paying attention to the details of the book when I was looking through it."

"Well, that's a bummer then, I guess."

Zack felt like kicking something. "I should have known it!"

"I don't suppose there's anything else in this room worth checking out." Cody said, poking around through the desk.

"He switched it! That's the only thing it could be. This must not be the book!" Zack said.

Cody was silent as he rummaged around through the desk, turning up nothing of interest.

"You believe me, though, right?" Zack asked him.

"Well, the pages and drawings you provided would definitely seem to indicate that something weird was going on here." Cody said, moving onto the closet. "I don't see any reason not to believe you. Though it's very odd. If they were going to confiscate the journal, why replace it with a blank? That makes no sense."

"Maybe they knew I would come back! Maybe they did it to just mess with me!"

"That is a possibility, I guess, though it's still very odd." Cody could find nothing of interest in the closet either, same as during Zack's search. "Well, this is a dead end. Might as well check out that lens and see if we can't find that cave."

(2)

Zack and Cody climbed the ladder leading to the hatch that opened into the top of the lighthouse. Cody went up first. The gigantic lens stood before them.

"Again, it's very curious to me." Cody said. "Even if they don't use this thing very often, why on Earth would they switch the lens? Seems to me the old one would have been just fine."

"Archimedes gave a very interesting look when I mentioned it." Zack said. "Almost like it was actually news to him. Come to think of it, he gave a similar look when I mentioned Oliver's journal."

"It's also interesting because it doesn't make sense they'd go through the trouble of changing it when they were trying to keep it secret from the townspeople."

"See? It's as I said. Something's wrong with this town. Everything that's going on here just doesn't add up."

"Curious, curious, curious." Cody said.

His line shined onto a symbol crudely drawn onto the wall. It was a circle being drawn out and over itself repeatedly with what appeared to be a star in the middle. "I wonder what this is?"

"A symbol of the cult, perhaps?"

"Hmm."

"Let's just go see if we can find that cave. There has to be something down there!" Zack said impatiently, and more than a little frustrated.

Cody concurred that would be the best idea.

(3)

Zack half expected them to open the lighthouse door and find half the town upon them. But he breathed a sigh of relief when he and Cody clicked off their flashlights and opened the door finding it as dark as ever. But then again, if the townspeople were heading to the island, they would have seen them when they were on the top floor of the lighthouse just now.

"Guess luck is on our side tonight, huh?" Cody said.

From the direction of the town still nothing was stirring.

They walked down towards the back of the island. They found the area where, according to James's journal, the island elevated a bit and the shallow waters were supposed to lead around to the entrance of the cave.

The stepped down into the water, splish-splashing their way as they walked around the island. They walked quite a ways around the perimeter.

"I'm not seeing any cave." Cody said.

"It's definitely here." Zack said. "Both James and Drake wouldn't have referenced something that wasn't here!"

"We're halfway towards the front of the island now!"

"It's got to be here!"

Yet, as they came around towards the front, the island's elevation leveled off, and they were now standing in the water around the island, almost to the front of it facing the town.

"Well." Cody said.

"I don't get it!" Zack said. "Maybe it elevates somewhere else?"

"It doesn't." Cody said. "I was paying attention. This is the only place."

"They must have covered it up!"

"I don't see how that would be possible. I would think it would look at least a little obvious. Maybe it was never really here."

"It has to be! It was mentioned in the journals!"

"That doesn't mean they were telling the _truth._"

"But it just has to be here!"

"The pages said James was talking about killing Oliver out of fear. Here's a more curious question: what if _James _was the one going mad, not Oliver? Maybe James wrote all that stuff while having a delusion and killed the others."

"And who wrote all that stuff in Oliver's journal?"

"Clever forgery to cover up his crime?"

"Before killing himself?"

"Or running on the lam. Perhaps it was his way of covering up his leaving town."

"Then how does that explain my name in Oliver's journal?"

Cody turned to Zack.

"Zack, are you absolutely certain there was anything written in there?"

Zack looked at Cody, not believing what his brother was implying.

"What are you saying?"

"Well, I'm not saying anything, but you do have to admit, since Maya disappeared, you _have_ been under maximum stress. The things you told me about the town, seeing James's journal, the drawings..."

"You think I imagined it!" Zack said, looking at his brother in betrayal and disbelief.

"I don't know." Cody said, trying to keep him calm. "What I do know is the cave is not here and there was nothing in that journal."

"Cody, I watched that man give his blood to CHILDREN to eat and drink. There's something really messed up going on in this town, and this lighthouse has something to do with it!"

"I'm not doubting your account!" Cody said, holding up his hand. "But can you be absolutely, one hundred percent, positively sure you didn't just imagine it due to heavy stress and an overload from all the weird things you'd already experienced here?"

"There is a cave somewhere!" Zack said angrily. "And I don't need you to help me find it!"

"I was just wondering if it was not perhaps a possibility worth considering!" Cody said, at a loss for what to do.

Zack started trampling around the opposite direction, back around the perimeter of the island's elevation, searching desperately once again. It just had to be here! Cody followed slowly behind him, not saying anything.

Zack felt along the craggy wall.

"I know it's here somewhere!"

They went all the way around again until they were back at the beach where they had started.

Zack traipsed up the beach angrily, plopped down, and started crying. Cody sighed and sat down beside him.

"I don't want much, Cody." he said in between sobs. "I just want to find my wife again and be happy. Is that so much to ask for?"

"No. It's not too much to ask for." Cody responded softly.

"I... I... don't want to go through any more of this. All I want is for things to be like they once were."

"Zack… I can't begin to imagine how it must feel for you." Cody patted him and rubbed his back. Zack's sobs leveled off after a few minutes.

"Could I really be going mad? Could I?"

Cody looked at him.

"I think you need to get a good week's worth of rest."

Zack shook his head. "Resting does me no good. I can never stop thinking about her enough to rest."

"I wish I knew what to tell you."

"It all seemed pretty real. Could I have imagined it? That book? My name? I mean, the pages I had were real!"

"I don't know."

After a while, Cody said:

"Let's just spend the weekend together. You and me. Let's just relax. We'll go somewhere, not think of any of this for the time being. We'll just hang out and be together. Like old times."

"This is not 'like old times' enough for you?"

Cody smiled. "Not when it's stressing you out like this." They were both silent for a few seconds. "We've certainly had our share of weird times traveling the world on the S.S. Tipton." Cody eventually said.

"I miss those days."

Cody nodded. 

"There seemed to be so much more happiness and laughter back then." Zack said.

Cody looked at him confused.

"How do you mean?"

Zack looked at him and struggled with the words to explain it. It had just been a spontaneous thought that had come out. It was an expression of something he was feeling deep down inside that he was trying to express, but at the same time, he wasn't actually sure how to express it in a way that made sense. Maybe it didn't even fully make sense to him.

"Back then," he said. "In those days, when we lived in the Tipton hotel and when we were going to school on Seven Seas High, things were so much simpler. It seemed like back then... that the sun was just dawning on the horizon. The world was a vast and magnificent place, full of adventure and wonder to be had. When our mom enrolled us in that school, it was an opportunity of a lifetime. We had the chance to travel the world and experience all kinds of new things. We had all sorts of vast new experiences. We attended high school on a luxury cruise liner! It seems like living in a dream thinking about it now. Every day was a new experience. Every day was full of promise. Nothing bad was happening then. Nothing truly bad ever happened to us that couldn't be resolved at the end of the day. Every night, you went to bed excited about what the next day, the next week, or the next month would bring. Or at least I did. I may have been as lazy as I always had been when we were on that boat, but I was having a blast. No parents, us on our own. Near perfect freedom."

"There still was Moseby. And Ms. Tutwiler."

"Yeah, but you know what I mean. It was just, I guess, in the back of my mind, I thought that dream world would go on forever. But then, one day, I woke up and suddenly it was all over. It was suddenly time for me to make my mark upon the world. And I did. And it was fun. But for some reason the sun just didn't ever seem as if it shined nearly as much anymore as when we were on that ship. I mean, I went on to become famous and successful, just like I'd always wanted, but it also seemed like when we left the S.S. Tipton, something magnificent we'd had was lost. I feel like I left a piece of my soul back on the S.S Tipton. Back then we were so young and carefree. But then we grew up and became adults. I didn't think on these things as much before. They were always there to some extent. Maya became my ray of sunshine. She was the one who kept me going. She kept me sane. Since she's been gone, though, I've been thinking on these things and those times a lot more and how much I miss them."

There was silence between them for a bit.

"I think I have a vague idea of what you mean." Cody said finally.

"I feel like I'm embarrassing myself. Forget I said anything." Zack said.

"No." Cody replied. "It's good to talk about these things."

"It's just nowadays..." Zack said after a pause between them. "There is not as much laughter. Not as much happiness. Well, there is for YOU, and I'm very happy for you, but for me, everything's gotten so much darker. I used to think, as a kid, as a teenager, that a life of money and fame and women and leisure and material things would bring me ultimate happiness. Why, even though I have all those things waiting for me back home in abundance now, should I ever so reach out and hold onto them, I could live the rest of my life without them. Life's not worth living at all anymore without Maya by my side. There are sometimes when I feel that the whole world we used to live in was a sitcom. Nowadays it's slowly become a horror story."

"I... if... if you don't ever find Maya..." Cody chose his words carefully. "O-or if it turns out... that you do prove something happened to her... I know that as time goes on, you'll find someone again."

"I don't want to find someone else!" Zack shot at him. "I want Maya! I want her back! I don't want this to end this way!"

"…It'll hurt for a long time." Cody continued, briefly ignoring Zack's rebuttal. "I remember how it felt when Bailey and I broke up in Paris. I'll never forget how that felt. I can't imagine how it must feel for you. But time will eventually make things more bearable. You'll find someone, and eventually you'll be able to live again and be like your old self. Maybe the world will one day again be a 'sitcom'."

Zack pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his head in his knees. The sound of the ocean water gently lapping up on the beach could be heard. There was a soft breeze. Everything around them was so soft and tranquil.

"I know." Zack said. "I know. Deep down inside. However, it still doesn't make me feel any better now. It doesn't make me feel any less resolved now to continue my search."

"It shouldn't." Cody softly replied. "You just have to be prepared for the worst, and hope for the best. If you don't, your mind will only end up getting the best of you and destroy you."

Zack picked up a fistful of white sand in his right hand and let it slowly spill out through the hole in his fist, like sand in an hourglass slowly counting down the time.

"How about you? Do you ever miss our days in the hotel? Or on the ship?" He asked.

"Always. Often." Cody said. "I think of them fondly almost every day. Those were some of the best times of our lives."

"I wish we could go back." Zack said, mesmerized by the falling of sand out of his hand. "I wish we could have the chance to do it all over again."

"Bad things happen." Cody said. "But good things always happen despite the bad things. Someday, in the future, you may feel differently. While I'll always cherish our memories we had on that boat, I'd never want to give up what I have today." Cody ran his hand through his hair. "I wake up every day and think, gosh, how I blessed am I now? Spending my life with the girl of my dreams, two beautiful children, one more on the way, good job, good family... sometimes I almost get the feeling I'm being rewarded for something I didn't do. I think that you will eventually have yours someday as well."

"You are blessed. And that's why I said I wanted you to stay out of this from now on." Zack said.

"Maybe nothing's going to happen at all."

After a long pause, Zack said: "I don't know. I wish I had a clue anymore."

(4)

Zack and Cody returned to New York. Zack crashed at Cody's place for another day and then headed back to L.A. Zack and Cody were silent to Bailey as to what they had actually been up to. Cody kept working on cracking the disk. He began the slow, complicated process of designing his own personal OS to try and run it. It would be a project he would be working on the next ten years to come. Indeed, even though he had planned on only working on it with some diligence whenever he had some time to spare, very soon it would become far more serious for him, much more of an obsession. For the next ten years, he would be keeping his promise to Zack. The disc would be the one hope he had that he would be able to pursue. And he would pursue it with everything he had.

(5)

The night before the day he was going to embark on his flight back to LA, Zack had stolen away from Cody and Bailey's for a walk. He walked the streets of New York, letting the sights and sounds of the city and the pleasant night soothe his soul.

His soul still ached. The ache would not go away for a long time. He knew it. He would not stop crying for Maya for a very long time.

He found himself stopping in Times Square Park. He gazed up towards the night sky. The clear, black sky, dotted with stars and constellations. A crescent moon shined down upon him, the only natural light that could be seen in this place. The dark outline of the rest of the moon could be faintly seen.

There was no one else around. At least, not in the area he was walking. He found himself looking up at the sky and speaking these words, the types of words he had never really taken the time to ever speak in his life:

"God, I'm not sure if you really exist. I'm not sure if you're really looking down upon us from up there or if you're just a figment of our imagination. But I've experienced some pretty strange stuff recently, so I'm not quite certain we're all alone or that this is all there is. I'm not sure if I'm talking to the God of Christianity, of Islam, of Judaism, of Hinduism, or of any of those religions at all. I just don't know what to believe, to be quite honest. But I just want to ask, if there's anything that can be done, then lead me to the truth and show me the way. If not, then help me find reason to have my soul be at peace. But, regardless of whether Maya's alive or dead, if there's something truly malevolent going on, if there's something genuinely evil hidden behind everything that's happened, then use me. Help me to expose it. Help me to stop it. If I'm supposed to be the Harbinger as that journal I'm not even sure I didn't hallucinate claimed, then let it turn out to happen, not in the way they want it to happen, but in the way of justice and goodness." Zack bowed his head as he started walking again. "I've never asked you for anything before, and I don't know if I'll talk to you terribly often again, to be perfectly honest, but I pray that my request is heard and considered. Even if it is not answered for me, then answer it for the good of others, so that no one else is able to be harmed because of them."

As he walked away, he felt something strange. He couldn't quite identify it. Maybe he was just imagining it. It was a very strange sensation. It was almost as if he were on fire. Not in a physical sense, but something else altogether. It was like a small tingle at first that slowly grew to envelop his entire body. It was covering him, protecting him, consuming him.

Something had shifted. He couldn't be sure quite what. The air was suddenly different. The pain in his soul was still there, but he walked just a little bit more with purpose, a little more upright, his head held just a little higher than before, even if he didn't realize it.

He didn't know what the future held, but if he might have seen into it, he wouldn't have been able to fathom the things that were about to take place.


	10. Watched

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 9: Watched**

(1)

Two weeks had passed. Zack was trying to throw himself into his work. He was working harder than ever. It was all he could do, he felt. It wasn't that he was trying to make it all disappear and go away, he just genuinely had no other direction he felt he could go at this point.

He still had to come home to his empty house and bed every night, which he hated.

He thought back to Fetch Rock every day. For reasons he had no clue of, the nightmares had stopped. In fact, he was beginning to question whether or not Cody and Archimedes may have in fact been right.

(2)

Zack was at his nightclub in L.A. this particular evening on his day off. This place, his main nightclub located in downtown LA, was one of his crowning achievements. The theme of it was that it was designed like a bunch of movie sets all combined into one, a type of tribute to Hollywood. The building itself was designed in a semi-circle. From the entrance, there were six giant areas all decked out with different themes and all connected to each other.

The first one, starting from the right, was the Star Wars theme. Zack had done a very bizarre and controversial hybrid of the Millennium Falcon and the Mos Eisley Cantina. Zack hadn't been able to decide on just one particular location, so he'd decided to have them combined. The head foreman had looked at him like he was crazy. "Those hardcore fans, they'll skin you alive! Trust me!"

Zack didn't see why. He'd gone ahead with it anyways. It worked, he felt. He felt like he had blended them well quite artistically. But the hardcore Star Wars fans had wanted to skin him alive. Zack didn't understand it. But they couldn't see the art in combining two completely different locations from the universe they so devoutly cherished into one. It completely baffled and offended.

After enduring countless long (very long) lectures from costume-clad Star Wars fans during the first two opening weeks, Zack had decided to mess with them even more. The bar area was given a huge, neon sign right above it that read: 'Greedo Shot First!' The fans did not appreciate the humor in that either, sadly.

To add even more fuel to an already growing fire, Zack had done some hardcore tracking down and had managed to procure a VHS of the extremely rare Star Wars Holiday Special and installed TVs all over the room to play it 24/7.

The Star Wars Holiday special was a special that had aired on November 17th, 1978, and not once more ever again. To say it was horrendously terrible was to be rather lenient on it. Reportedly, George Lucas was so embarrassed of the existence of this abomination that he had resolved to do everything in his power to hunt down every existing copy and smash it with a hammer.

Zack had met George Lucas, though, and Lucas had found his place amusing, although Zack could have sworn that more than once he saw Lucas taking careful glances around just in case he might spot the source of where the unholy tape was playing at all hours of operation so that he might secretly make off with it and perform the necessary ritual of purification. But Zack had all the TV's wired to his office where a locked cabinet housed the DVD player the movie had been burned onto and now ran on permanent loop. Heck, Zack had ten other burned copies of the movie. Lucas could have HAD the VHS for all he cared. But it was much more amusing to Zack to deprive Lucas of an illusion of possible victory.

For all the criticism this particular section got, though, it was still fairly popular. There were plenty of people who got the humor of it. Even the hardcore fans didn't necessarily stay away from it. He saw more than one of the fans who had lectured him there on a semi-regular basis.

Next to the Star Wars abomination hybrid was an Indiana Jones room done all out like the Temple of Doom. It was another odd semi-hybrid, though, where an opening towards the right held the eponymous giant boulder that had chased Indiana in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It couldn't be an Indiana Jones theme, Zack had thought, without the giant boulder. This particular room, however, had another function other than just getting down, dancing, and getting drunk. It also functioned as a bizarre type of wedding hall.

Yes, a wedding hall.

Zack had thought it would be hilarious if people could actually opt to get married in the Temple of Doom. He found an employee who could be made to look very close to the high priest from the movie, got him ordained, and proceeded to perform some of the most bizarre wedding ceremonies known to man. The groom would actually be chained up like in the movie, and the priest would pretend to pull the groom's heart out, which was actually just a realistic looking prop that had a ring inside, and the groom would make a declaration of 'giving his heart' to his bride for all eternity. Believe it or not, the very first wedding performed on this spot was of Zack and Maya. It was definitely one of the more memorable moments in his life. This particular room was just one of the most shining examples of just how much of a bizarre and creative mind Zack possessed. (He still couldn't fathom that Maya had actually agreed to get married this way.)

He hated this room now, only because of the memories it brought back.

On this particular day, there was a wedding taking place tonight. He couldn't stand to be in there. It reminded him too much of his own wedding day.

Next to that was the 007 room which was based off of Casino Royale. All around were lifelike carved lifelike images of each of the different actors who had been Bond. These all went in an orderly fashion around the room, starting at the left of the entrance with Sean Connery, then going around to George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, and further on, ending at the right entrance. The Casino Royale, true to its name, was partially a gambling joint. It was one of the most popular and profitable areas of the club.

Pirates of the Caribbean was the next theme with the room being based off the Black Pearl. There was an area set up where extra paying customers could swashbuckle each other with non-lethal swords. The catch was they had to come in costume and sign a release form stating that Club Zack was not responsible for any eyes poked out, fatally injured testicles, or any other such things that _might _occur when people were waving around blades at each other, dull or not.

The next room was the zombie room with cemetery decor all around and screens surrounding the area in which every zombie film that Zack could find were rotated and played constantly. This room was mostly a dance floor. At random several times throughout the day, an announcer would announce over the intercom: "THRILLER TIME!", and everybody who wanted to participate hit the dance floor and did their best zombie dance to Michael Jackson's 'Thriller.' Judges watching the dancers closely would pick out the best person on the dance floor and they'd get a free drink.

In the final room was the land of Mordor. The room resembled the underground caverns where monsters had been created in the Lord of the Rings films. Zack had actually gone for a huge, holographic eye of Sauron that hung high above the room on the ceiling, looking down on everyone. A giant realistic representation of Shelob hug off on the left side, posed as if making its way down to feed on the guests. This particular room had a different function than all the others. It was predominately a room for role players and little else. Role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, Forgotten Realms, or card games like Magic The Gathering. There were quite a few major tournaments held here from time to time.

A controversial cantina, a twisted wedding chapel, a casino, a swordfighting room, a zombie-themed dance floor, and a Lord Of The Rings gaming room… this was one of those places where Zack had really outdone himself. He'd even pulled a couple million out of his own account to make it happen. People had said he was crazy. But the money that rolled in from this place far surpassed that which he had put in. It worked.

He and Maya had built this club together. Zack had built all the others, striking out on a limb with his business partner Lenny pretty much all by himself. When Maya had returned from the Peace Corps, he had really made something of himself. He had become something more for her. Then they'd built this place together. It was theirs. This became the center of Club Zack. Zack's personal office was located here.

When he had been a teenager, Zack had been a player and an insufferable womanizer. The concepts of long term commitment or soul mates had never quite clicked in his mind. He remembered being 17, for example, and trying to explain to Cody that "women are like socks. You grow tired with the pair you have, you steal someone else's."

He couldn't exactly remember where this warped philosophy had formed in his mind. He just remembered he had never had a relationship that lasted for more than a few weeks. If there was one, he just plain couldn't remember.

When his mother had enrolled him and Cody on the S.S. Tipton's Seven Seas High program for the last several years of high school, where they'd had the chance to study abroad while traveling the entire world, a series of fortunate circumstances had landed Zack with a cabin all to himself. To say he hadn't abused that enthusiastically and extensively was like saying you could stick a hungry fat man in a McDonald's all by himself and trust him to control himself.

But something happened when Maya came onto that ship. Zack, who had never once believed in the myth of love at first sight, had instantaneously found himself with the most bizarre affliction. "There's just something different about this sock..." he could remember saying to Cody, confused and bewildered by the feelings that were running through him. For some reason, from the moment he'd met her, she'd felt like completed him. Somehow. Someway. He could not explain it. It just was. It simply happened.

And when graduation came and he had found out she had been accepted in the Peace Corps and was being sent to freaking AFRICA of all places for an EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF TIME, she had broken up with him because she hadn't felt a long distance relationship would work.

For the first time in his life, Zack was able to experience that feeling he had once looked down upon others for being so silly as giving themselves over to, even having inflicted it upon others many times himself. He got the chance to experience his first broken heart. He was so distraught he almost couldn't be budged to make it to his graduation!

But he had not given up. His love for her, naive and blind though it may have been, refused to let her out of his life for good. He'd tasted the feeling of completion, wholeness, and perfection, something indescribable he knew he would never find in any other girl again for the rest of his life. And he would not give that up. Ever. For any reason.

He'd begged her. He'd gotten on his knees. He'd made a huge scene of himself in more than one public place. She'd finally reluctantly consented to trying it just for a while to see if it worked out.

Zack had taken that crack in the door and had done his best to keep it shoved wide open. Even she would later admit how shocked she was at his extreme dedication to keep their relationship going. He'd called her every day. He'd texted her constantly. He was concerned about every detail of her day to day life, what she was doing, what was going on with her.

When he'd suddenly become successful, wealthy, and even famous, it had actually scared him a bit. He knew back then what she would be thinking. The reason she had, upon first meeting him, refused to date him, was because of the fact she found out he had dated every single girl on the ship and none of those "relationships" lasted longer than a few weeks, if even that long.

But Zack had been so struck by her, so dedicated, he'd even promised to go for MONTHS just being friends. No kissing. No romantic gestures. Just friends. It had been agonizingly painful, but he had held onto it. He showed no other affections towards any other girl the entire time, which was a world record in Zack Martin's book.

He attained her. But 'attained' wasn't even really the right way of thinking of it. It was more of a feeling of... coming closer to achieving wholeness.

While she was in the Peace Corps and Zack was becoming real successful, of course it was almost a given she would suspect that if he had not just been playing her this whole time and was restraining himself while she was gone, then surely now that he was famous and would certainly have all sorts of women fawning all over him, then SURELY he would not resist giving into the urge to touch them.

Zack knew she would be thinking it, and of course she WAS thinking it, and Zack's biggest inclination was to try and obsessively reassert that she was the only woman in his life. But he'd also figured if he started acting abnormally she might be even more inclined to suspicion and it would hasten the inevitable break up he felt was coming.

It was certain, he felt, she was going to break up with him by this point. He'd known it was coming. She was not there with him at that present time. She would not trust him. She would be suspicious of him constantly. And why should she have to put up with such things?

It broke his heart daily that he knew it was coming. He was torn between the glee of his success and his deep love for Maya and the impending heartbreak. He had rehearsed his panic speech over and over again for that inevitable day he finally got that "Zack, we need to talk" call, running through his mind constantly all the variables of how the conversation might go and all the possible things he would say to try and convince her to NOT break up with him.

She never did make that call. Yes, she had been heavily considering it, she would later admit. But he'd kept his devotion up to her. They were still in constant communication with each other the whole time. She had actually more than once been on the verge of picking up the phone and calling him, with tears in her eyes to say she was going to break it off for good. Surely there was no way in reality she could really be the only girl in Zack Martin's life! Surely she was not nearly as special to him as she'd wanted to believe! She'd known she was probably only setting herself up for severe heartbreak when she finally returned home. She hadn't wanted to allow herself to endure that.

But then he would always call her right before she could call him. His sweet, kind voice telling her that he had been thinking about her and asking how she was doing. She'd strained carefully, listening for anything, even the slightest, remotest, deepest, tell-tale hint of guilt in his voice. But she had been able to detect none. Was he playing her? Was she going to, in the end, end up having her heart broken in the biggest way imaginable? She just could not be certain.

For her, no guy had ever gone so much out of his way to hold onto her the way Zack had, she would later confide in him. It was this feeling of being valued that had been the reason she'd held on, despite the thought that she might one day be brought down to Earth and it might tear her apart.

But that never happened. Zack never touched any of those other women. And when she finally came back, in Zack's world, it was the highest moment of his entire being of existence. Forget his success and his fame! Heck, at the risk of being blasphemous, screw ever getting to an eternal paradise of pearly gates and streets made of gold! THIS was heaven, here, right now, heaven on Earth, just _her_ in his life.

He'd taken her into his arms, kissed her, and cried over her, like she was the most priceless treasure he had lost and had returned to him.

That particular day she'd wanted to believe him, wanted to give into the feelings of being equally reciprocal, but her doubt at that point was at an all-time high. He remembered she had seemed just a little cold towards him, and that had scared him. He'd been resolved to do everything he could to make sure their relationship stayed secure.

She spent the day going around asking everyone who knew him for a very detailed report on his social activities. How downright SHOCKED she had been when a number of people had told her, sincerely, how much of a party pooper he had been when it had come to anything resembling any sort of a dating lifestyle! Women had come onto him quite a bit, and he would push them away. Friends had tried to hook him up and he had refused him. All he could ever talk about around anyone else was Maya. A lot of people had been telling him he needed to give up on her, live a little, and not tie himself down so resolutely. But he'd had none of it. He'd never given in, never stopped pining for her, never stopped talking about her, and never stopped having eyes and soul only for her. To realize his steadfast devotion had been utterly real was more of a shock than anything she'd ever have in her life, she would tell him later.

Maya was not like normal girls. Growing up in New York City had made her emotionally tough as nails, street-smart, and a bit sarcastic. Maybe that was what had driven Zack to her so strongly. All those other girls hadn't meant much to him because he had never connected with them so strongly on an emotional level. It had always been more about the physical. Truthfully, he had never been aware nor believed there was more. He'd been reaching out for something that some inner drive in him felt like he needed so he could fulfill some sort of primal urge. But he wasn't able stay with one for too long, because they never really completed him in that way he was seeking but hadn't yet learned how to identify.

But Maya fulfilled that need, he knew it deep down from the very moment he first came into contact with her, and he would never let that go. And so it was, this tough-as-nails city girl, who had just come back from several years in the Peace Corps, realizing just how much she truly was his most valued possession in his world, ran to find him and had broken down completely in his arms.

They had been married by a justice of the peace several weeks later. A "real" wedding ceremony would come later. She was not going to let him get away, so help her God.

Then they built this club, their crowning achievement together, and then had had an official wedding ceremony with all their friends and family together, getting married in the Temple of Doom.

The priest of Kali ripping Zack's heart out from his chest as he pledged to give his physical and emotional heart to her for all eternity was the most beautiful and twisted, romantic and depraved way of showing affection for her he could think of.

They hadn't been married for very long. They were still young. They still had had so many years ahead of them. They should have had children together. There was so much more time they should have spent with each other, so much more they should have done together.

But now Zack was all alone again. It was like a very large piece of his world had been ripped away. He was alone once more, but this time he could not just pick up the phone and call her and find out how she was doing. He would be able to do none of that. If she was alive, he knew not where, and he was not able to reach her.

It was this Friday afternoon when he was walking through his club, drifting, lost in thought, thinking of these things, when the bizarreness he'd left behind in Fetch Rock several weeks ago returned full circle. It had, in fact, followed him home.

(3)

"They're everywhere. I can see them. People think I'm crazy, as if there's something wrong for being paranoid! But it's us paranoid people who live the longest! We survive because we've trained ourselves to be able to survive! And I'm telling you, they're everywhere!"

Every word he spoke sent a breath of alcohol in Zack's face. Mark Jaeger wasn't a bad guy. He was somewhat of a sycophant, a celebrity stalker. Not the 'bad kind' per se, although Zack was also hard pressed to come to a conclusion as to what exactly a 'positive' celebrity stalker might look like.

The 36 year old-ish man hung out at Zack's club on a regular basis. Zack normally enjoyed talking to his patrons. It was one of the best perks of his job, he felt, meeting new people, but he preferred to avoid Mark if he could help it.

It was mostly the sycophant-ish wanting to be his best friend thing that particularly irked him. Mark was like that towards him no doubt because he was very well known around LA and much of the country and had rubbed shoulders with quite a few celebrities at one point or another.

Mark wasn't a bad guy. Zack attributed it to mere loneliness. Mark had never been married. He lived by himself. He seemed to have no particular goal nor drive in life. He was pretty much drifting. Zack knew enough about Mark from things he'd picked up here and there from other patrons as well as because Mark had the tendency to latch onto him and talk his ear off whenever Zack wandered by. Zack would have preferred to avoid it, but what could he do? Hide in his office 24/7? That wouldn't do. He was the owner of this place.

There was also the fact that talking to Mark was also sometimes the equivalent of talking to a Stephen King character. The guy _was_ paranoid as all get out, a real believer in conspiracy theories. He read as much as he could get his hands on from, Zack presumed, the Speculation and New Age sections of the bookstore. Some of Mark's theories on life were really out there. Aliens were probably in control the government, for example. In fact, aliens had probably controlled mankind since the beginning of time. Of course, there was always the possibility everyone was actually living in some version of the Matrix. One couldn't rule that out completely, Mark had said. Also, according to Mark, 2012 was not supposed to have been a literal apocalypse, but a spiritual one, and the actual one might be very well slated for 2032. Something about prophecies of Atlantis and crop circles that showed the alignment of the planets in 2032 yet Earth was missing.

That was the kind of stuff you got when you talked to Mark for very long. Zack had never put stock into any of that kind of stuff.

Oh, and Mark claimed he had been abducted by aliens, too. More than once. He'd been anal probed, of course, and then they had injected his head with some sort of green goo. Mark had forgotten it the next morning until he had awoken and supposedly found the goo seeping out of his ears. His first thought was that he had been possessed by an evil spirit or a Dark Gaia, but self-hypnosis regression had revealed the truth. Forgoing the exorcism he'd planned to give himself, he'd gone to the hospital to try to have and have them remove the goo. They hadn't believed him, of course, and they'd sent him away without any help. They'd thought he was crazy! Imagine that! But for some strange reason, the following day the goo stopped seeping out of his ears. Maybe it had evaporated? Mark was more certain they had simply gotten a hold of his mind and it was only a matter of time.

But he'd become more convinced recently it was a sort of homing beacon. He was completely convinced that aliens were stalking him in his apartment. It only made sense! He'd done too much research. He knew too much about the upcoming prophecies. The aliens were concerned with what he knew. The aliens might be good or evil, he wasn't sure which. Some aliens were good. Some of them only wanted the best for mankind. But others wanted to keep humanity in bondage. They didn't want humanity to have too much knowledge.

The tower of Babel was one such instance, Mark had claimed. Mark took this story literally and attributed it to aliens. Humanity had tried to get too big for its own britches. Mark was a prophet of sorts for these sorts of things. He knew too much. The aliens either feared him or were considering taking him out of the picture for good. Mark knew things.

"Do you know..." he had once told Zack, in a typical drunken stupor. "...that the pyramids are significant to the end of the world? They were not built by humans... but I'm not supposed to speak of these things! Yet I have to speak, someone has to listen! The pyramids are our only hope in the upcoming battle!"

The government had taken notice of him, too, he claimed. The government was now watching him at all times.

"It's inevitable I will disappear one day. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you these things _(hic)_. If you know too much, they might come after you too! But I can't just keep these things to myself! _(hic)_ Most people walking around, they just don't know the truth! They are all living in blindness!"

Zack did his best to amuse Mark. He would nod his head and act like he gave great consideration to Mark's theories. Why not? The guy could be kind of fun. A little irritating in that he was often trying to latch onto Zack when Zack really needed to get work done, but he wasn't a bad person. Zack felt kind of sorry for him. He wondered if it was the inevitable result of loneliness that drove a man to this sort of stuff? Was it all simply for attention?

Zack didn't give Mark much heed this particular day when Mark caught him and started up with another one of his urgent conspiracies. Zack really wasn't in the mood for it today. He was busy trying to be absorbed in his thoughts. As Mark was proceeding to try and talk his ear off, Zack was racking his brain for excuses so he could leave and take his walk elsewhere. Why had he even come here today? It was supposed to have been his day off. Oh, right. Being home all alone sucked.

"I'm telling you! That man is one of them, DON'T LOOK!" Mark was saying excitedly. "Brown hair, blue shirt, tan overcoat, he's always here! For the last several weeks! Him and that blonde guy, white shirt! Blue jeans! They are always here! But sometimes they don't look the same! They change their appearance. I tell you, they're from the government! They're stalking me! But the crazy thing is, I only see them here! Maybe they're stalking _you!_"

He hiccupped.

"I've told you too much! I'm sorry! It's all my fault. But I just have to warn you! If they get to you, act none the wiser, like you know nothing! I'm so sorry!"

Zack would have tried to have assured Mark it was no big deal and that he would be just fine, but trying to convince Mark against one of his fantasies had been proven time and time again to be a useless thing. Instead Zack sighed and told Mark he would be careful and made up an excuse to get out of there quickly. He could feel Mark's sorrowful eyes on him as he left.

Zack had a headache by this point. Maybe he would stop at a bar somewhere and get a drink. Mark was okay, but this just hadn't been the day to deal with him. Zack was too consumed with thoughts of Maya, of the past, and of Fetch Rock.

(4)

It was while Zack was in the bar gulping down his drink, wanting nothing more than to get decently buzzed and continue his walk, that he noticed the brown haired guy sitting several stools away from him. He had taken note of him when Mark was talking about him as well as the other guy, out of amusement more than anything else.

But wasn't it an odd coincidence this guy was here now? But surely that's all it was! No way could what Mark have been saying been serious!

Zack took a casual look around the bar. He could not see the other guy. Zack finished his drink, decided against a second one for now, and turned to leave. As he was headed for the door, the blonde haired guy came in. Zack almost stopped dead in his tracks, but managed to keep his composure and not hesitate in his step. But he hadn't been able to stop the lurch in his gut when the guy had walked in.

_'Surely, surely this is just a coincidence!'_

But then Zack thought about Fetch Rock. His warning to Cody that he or both of them could already be being watched. Those high connections Archimedes had alluded to. And Mark's warning:

_"Maybe they're stalking _YOU!_"_

No, couldn't be! Zack was not going to let himself over to paranoia. But if he wasn't giving himself over to paranoia, then why, as he left the bar and continued his walk, did he suddenly find himself stopping in a gun shop he passed by and purchasing a concealed handgun?

He continued his walk, senses peeled at all times. He did not see the two men anymore. Having the gun on him, though, made him feel slightly safer. He just hoped he didn't have to use it.

(5)

Several more weeks passed by. Zack was certain now that the men were watching him. He'd gotten in the habit of seeing them in too many places he just happened to be. Mark was right. He was being watched. But for what purpose? Had Archimedes put them up to it?

Zack was never once accosted. He half expected it at all times. Once, the paranoia had gotten to him so much, he'd slipped into an alleyway in hopes that they would follow him, his hand clutched inside his coat on his gun. But they didn't follow him at all.

Eventually, as time passed, he stopped seeing them.

Had they given up on him? Or had they realized he'd identified the two of them? Had they swapped those two men out for several others? Of course, there was no telling exactly how many there were. For all he knew, he was being tailed 24/7 and didn't even know it.

He hadn't seen Mark around since Mark had pointed out the two men. Zack wasn't worried about him, though. He attributed it more likely to potential guilt for 'getting Zack involved.' Zack briefly wondered what Mark would have thought of Fetch Rock. Boy, would that place have sent his imagination soaring!

(6)

Zack sat on the foot of his bed, gun in his hands, staring down at it, thinking.

There was still so much more to this mystery, to be sure. Had Maya gotten too close to something? Had _he_ gotten too close to something?

He didn't want to give into paranoia like Mark, but he was more than certain now that there was some conspiracy afoot. Dare he just let it go, and try to live out the rest of his life, not thinking about it ever again? Is that what they wanted? Is that why they were watching him? To see what he would do?

But what if Maya was alive somewhere? If he gave up, would he not be giving up on her, too? But there was no proof. Yet if he pressed further, would he not be taken out eventually as well?

He looked at the handgun he was holding.

He knew he wouldn't be able to give this up. He'd known it the last several weeks as he'd been trying to simply bury himself into his work and forget.

He was probably heading swiftly towards his end. He thought about how Cody would feel if something happened to him. He thought about his mom, dad, and about everyone who cared for him.

His grip tightened on the gun and he closed his eyes. He found himself whispering:

"Sorry, guys."

He knew deep in his gut, if there really was a conspiracy, then he couldn't let it rest. Not until it was blown wide open and justice was served. Or until he met his demise. But he had been the cause of all this, hadn't he? He'd been the cause of Maya leaving. He'd started it. He would have to finish it. For her, if no one else. Since he had been the cause of her storming out the door, he owed it to her to pay the penance for his sins. And perhaps if it all did not end well, maybe he would rejoin her again beyond this life.

He thought back to his name in Drake's journal.

Hallucination? Coincidence?

If, _if_, for some reason it was not, then it was inevitable he had no choice. The writing in the book had not been there when he and Cody had returned. The cave had not been there. But still...

His grip tightened farther.

_Cody..._

_Bailey..._

_Mom..._

_Dad…_

_Lenny…_

_I'm sorry, I just can't let this go!_

No, he could not just let this go.

He opened his eyes. He had decided on his next course of action. He was going back to that island. Alone.


	11. The Lighthouse's Secret

**Dark Fall II**

**Part I - The Vanished**

**Chapter 10: The Lighthouse's Secret**

Zack flew out to Boston on the first available day there was going to be no moon again, procured a boat, and proceeded back to the island the same way he and Cody had done before.

The whole ordeal was a little trickier because Cody wasn't with him to navigate, and Cody was definitely the more knowledgeable one when it came to such things. Zack, however, had had a remarkable rare case of foresight and had saved his maps and plans he and Cody had made together just in case. He was following them the best he could. He was somewhat nervous. If he happened to be going off course, _way_ off course, he could end up finding himself lost out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, out of gas, with no hope for ever returning home. Wouldn't that just be a way to end it? Death not by pushing too close to some sort sort of high reaching conspiracy, but death by his own stupid lack of direction. But he did manage to finally end up with the island in sight, much to his relief.

He could see the dark outline of the Fetch Rock lighthouse faintly. He cut power to the boat, blew up the inflatable boat with the pump, and began manually rowing it to shore. Again, it was harder this time around with it just being him, but after some struggle, he finally made it to the island and pulled his boat onto the beach. He was very blessed that both times he'd done this it hadn't been very windy and the waves hadn't been that bad.

Making his way up the sandy beach and up the stone steps to the lighthouse, he found that the door once again was unlocked. It opened with a familiar creak. Zack looked back and saw that the town once again seemed completely dead. So far so good.

Now that Zack was, by this point, almost as familiar with this place as he was with one of his own clubs, he wasted no time in making his way through the boiler room, storage room, up the stairs, and all the way up to Drake's room.

The first part of his primary mission was simple: he had to check that book one more time. Again, the questions ran through his mind: Had Archimedes switched the books? Was the real one hidden somewhere else around here or was it now back in Fetch Rock?

Perhaps this was all a waste of time. But he wanted just one more thorough check of the island. Just one more and that was it.

Zack put his hands on the leather bound journal and opened it. He opened it to a completely random page.

On the page he had randomly turned to, in big, bold, black letters was written:

'WELCOME BACK, ZACK MARTIN, THE HARBINGER!'

Zack's blood chilled. Zack quickly whirled around again just like last time. Nothing there.

"Where are you?" Zack found himself saying out loud. Nothing answered him out of the darkness.

Zack had no doubt now that something strange and supernatural was afoot. Or was he supposed to believe Archimedes had switched the book a third time and he had just happened to open to the correct page on the first try?

Flipping through the rest of pages one by one, they were completely blank. The Prophet seemed to not be communicating with him any further, until he got to one page towards the end:

'MALAKAI KNOWS ALL AND SEES ALL. MALAKAI IS THE NAME APPROPRIATION OF THE VESSEL. NAME OF MEN, NAME OF GOD'S MESSENGER. MALAKAI IS THE HOUSE OF GOD, THE FATHER, THE DIVINE ESSENCE, AND THE VESSEL OF THE PROPHET AND THE OPENINGS TO THE TRAVELERS OF RIGHTEOUS BLOOD. UNDER THE LIGHTHOUSE, HIS DIVINE TEMPLE. TEMPLE OF THE MESSENGER, OF MALAKAI.'

There was a cave underneath this island. Zack was sure of it. He and Cody hadn't been able to find it for some reason. But it absolutely had to be there! Certainly, when Cody had been here with him, nothing had been written in this book either. Zack wondered, if he were here all by himself, and if he was the 'Chosen One,' the Harbinger, would it be perhaps that he, on his own, would be given access to this island's secret? He wasn't certain. Cody was, perhaps, an outsider to all this, so maybe it had been hidden to him when Cody had been here.

Zack turned to leave, but suddenly stopped and went over to the window of the room. Paranoid, he looked out. He half expected to see the entire town on their way to the island once more just like the first night he had been here.

The entire town was still pitch black and dead to the world.

Quickly, Zack made his way down and out of the lighthouse. A breeze caressed his face as he stepped outside. Actually, it seemed much windier and cooler now than when he'd first arrived on the island. As he stepped outside the door, he had a strange feeling. It was a feeling of stepping across some sort of threshold, a feeling that what he'd left just now was not which he was returning to. It was hard to explain it in his mind. He didn't know what had caused that sudden feeling, except for the thought that he was perhaps imagining it.

He was heading back now in the direction of his boat, to the beach. The wind was blowing harder. He hugged his jacket tight. This was not good. The increased wind could make the waters choppy, and it would be more dangerous trying to row all the way out to his boat. The handgun Zack now kept on him at all times was in its concealed place in his jacket.

Zack was almost at the beach when he stopped suddenly. Something didn't look right. He looked around.

The structure of the island - was it somehow different? No, he was certain he must be imagining that. But as he set foot back on the beach, the feeling was even stronger upon him.

He headed back in the direction of his inflatable boat. He was not going back in the boat. He was going to walk around the perimeter of the island and make certain once more he absolutely couldn't find the cave.

His feet hit the shallow water and he walked slowly around the perimeter of the raised portion of the island. He didn't have to go far. He was shocked when after a short walk, he came right to the cave's opening. It was cut into the rock where it had most definitely not been there before when he and Cody had been here. It was quite big. But Zack was also certain now that the structure of the island looked altered from when he and Cody had been walking around it the other night.

Zack had been feeling along this exact portion of the wall, right here! It had been solid rock!

Taking a deep breath, Zack now certain more than ever he was getting close to something, about to make some sort of major progress on his journey. He had not a clue as to what he was about to get himself into. He took a deep breath and started in the cave.

It was pitch black. He flicked on his flashlight.

The cave moved forth along a linear pathway. He followed it around until he finally arrived at a huge open area.

As he shined his light around, he realized it was a dead end.

This was the open area in which James had seen Drake conversing with God. But there was nothing here.

Had he arrived at another dead end in his search?

He shined his light around more in frustration. There had to be something here!

_'ZAAAAAAAACCCKKKK.'_

The soft, demonic utterance of his name made all his hairs leap up on his skin. Or maybe it was the wind? There was no one or anything in here with him he could see.

Was he alone in here with 'God'? Of course, he was certain now any God he might be here alone with was not God at all, but some sort of devil. Was he alone in here with a devil?

His light caught something as he shined it all about. The wall, over in a specific direction.

As his light hit the wall, the wall responded by shining with a strange luminescence. As he got closer, he saw indeed for certain that the entire wall was shimmering. Why was it doing that? What was causing this?

He reached out slowly and touched it.

All of a sudden, he had a strong pulling sensation. Everything became blurred all around him. The light was coming out of the wall, in waves, surrounding him, and he felt as if he was rushing forward, rushing, rushing, to a destination of which he knew not where.


	12. Trouble?

**Dark Fall II**

**Part II - Conspiracy**

**Chapter 11: Trouble?**

All of a sudden, the rushing sensation reverted to a sensation of being pulled _backwards_, and the blur around him suddenly reverted back to clarity.

Now he was standing in front of a stone wall. No shining. No luminescence.

Zack stepped back away from the wall, too shocked to even think. What had just happened?

Zack looked around him.

He was still in the same open area of the cave, exactly where he had just been. Nothing had changed.

Zack rubbed his head and tried to get his bearings. Had he just had a hallucination? He was not certain. He ended up deciding maybe he'd had enough in here for now. He needed to return to his boat to think.

He made his way cautiously back through the cave.

When Zack rounded the curve to the portion of the cave that would take him outside, he stopped suddenly when he realized what was dead wrong.

It was daylight outside.

Zack stood there, stunned at first, and then broke into a run out of the entrance of the cave. As his feet his the water, he glanced up into the sky. Indeed, it was daylight out, and the sky was fully clouded.

When he had come into the cave at night it had not been clouded. He had checked the Massachusetts weather before he had come and was pretty certain that it was not supposed to be a cloudy day at all. It was supposed to be clear skies.

A sinking feeling hit Zack in the stomach. What exactly had happened when he had touched that wall? Just what consequences had now unfolded as a result of his actions?

_'Now, just calm down Zack.'_ He tried to tell himself.

Everything was okay. He was going to go back to his boat, find his bearings, figure out what happened, and get back on track. Except as he walked around back to the beach where his boat was supposed to be, he saw it wasn't there.

_'Oh, crap!'_

He wondered if perhaps when he'd touched the wall he'd perhaps had some sort of unconscious spell. Had the townspeople of Fetch Rock discovered his boat while he was still in the cave? Was he stuck here on this island at their mercy? Would he have no choice but to risk swimming out across the ocean back to the town and throwing himself at the mercy of the townspeople?

He was had, anyways, as far as he was concerned. He had no choice. He slowly started his walk back up towards the front of the island. When he made his way around up the elevation behind the beach and could see the town clearly, though, he knew he was definitely not alone on this island. There was a boat tethered to the front part of the island facing the town.

But there was something else that was odd, though, that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He looked towards the town. Something didn't seem right.

It eventually hit him. He couldn't see anyone in the town at all! Surely he was imagining it. But he didn't see anyone on the streets, no activity at all. Was he just too far away to discern it? Or was this just one of those days where everyone was hiding indoors, doing whatever it was they normally do on a normal day in this town?

This was not a Sunday, so they definitely couldn't be in church, unless they had services other than Sunday. Maybe they were in their temple performing some sort of God-knows-what-kind-of ritual?

The only lead he had for sure, though, was going to be whoever was on this island with him. Zack pulled the his handgun from his jacket. He took the safety off and proceeded carefully. He was not going to play around now.

He couldn't see evidence of anyone wandering the island. And there certainly weren't many places to conceal oneself.

The lighthouse. That's where they were, no doubt.

He carefully made his way to the lighthouse and slowly cracked open the door. He winced as it creaked. Had it creaked like that earlier when he'd used it? He didn't think so. Hoping he wasn't alerting whoever was in here to his presence, he carefully shut the door and stayed perfectly still. No one was coming. He cautiously made his way down through the boiler room, pausing to make sure no one was hiding in the room on the right. Both were empty of any human presence.

He made his way up to the steps that had the door with the hole. He noticed right away the axe was missing. Not a good sign. He carefully opened this door. He could hear movement above. He felt it was coming from the crew kitchen. Bingo!

He kept his gun steady and moved cautiously but quickly up. He was going to get the drop on this person. He wasn't sure if they were alone, but if they were, it would make this a whole lot easier. He was going to get some answers, so help him!

He paused at the door, listening carefully. Someone was going through the room. He couldn't tell it there was just one person in there or not.

He braced himself, put the hand on the knob, and slowly opened the door.

He was in luck today, because the woman wasn't even facing him. She had long, wavy blond hair. She was wearing some odd contraption on her head that looked like some type of goggles. She seemed to be studying certain areas of the room very intently. She reached up to the contraption on her head and adjusted something.

Zack pointed the gun at her with both hands. Suddenly, he felt like a cop on one of those crime investigation shows.

"Freeze!" He said sharply. The woman stopped stiff. "Don't move a muscle or I'll let you have it! Slowly, SLOWLY turn around."

He could see she was trembling a bit. Yeah, he definitely had the drop on her! He'd caught her off guard. But he was very confused. Who was she, and what exactly was she doing here? He had the sudden, strangest feeling he might not be dealing with someone from Fetch Rock.

As she turned to face him, he could see she did indeed have some very weird sort of high tech goggles around her head.

She looked at him, cocked her head, and started to put her hands down.

"Keep 'em where I can see 'em!" Zack barked at her.

"Zack?" she asked.

Now it was Zack's turn to cock his head in confusion. He pulled his finger away from the trigger.

_'That voice!'_

The woman reached up slowly and pulled her goggles off.

Now it was Zack's turn to be shocked. She looked different. Far different than he remembered her. But it was definitely her.

"Maddie?"


	13. The Strange Case of Fetch Rock

**Dark Fall II**

**Part II - Conspiracy**

**Chapter 12: The Strange Case of Fetch Rock**

(1)

Zack slowly put the gun down and immediately reengaged the safety.

"Maddie... what on Earth are you doing here?"

She simply looked at him for a few seconds. "I could ask you the same thing! But the more important question is, where on _Earth_ have you been?" she asked emphatically.

The question confused him.

"Where have I been? Well, we haven't seen each other since the S.S. Tipton. I'm a wealthy entrepreneur now, if you haven't seen it on the news…"

"I'm not talking about that!" she replied back sharply.

"I'm not sure we're on the same page." he said, a little confused at her outburst.

"Zack," Maddie said, coming up to him. "You don't look like you've aged a day!"

And then it suddenly hit him why she looked so different. She looked older! Much older!

Well, of course it was expected she would look older. It had been years since he'd last seen her. But the thing was, she was supposed to have been only three years older than him. But here she was, standing in front of him, looking much older than she should have at 29, which is exactly what she would have been in present day 2019. He could have sworn she looked like she was in her late 30s!

"And you, uh... you look..." He suddenly realized what he was about to say. He was about to accidentally say to a woman to her face that she looked a lot older than she should have been. Not quite the smartest move on his part.

"Seriously, Zack! Where have you been! Do you know how your brother has taken it? Your mother? Please just tell me you didn't just disappear on purpose!"

Suddenly, Zack had a very disturbing theory. One he could not believe could possibly be true, but he had to ask:

"Maddie... what year is it?"

She looked at him and said: "2029. What do you think?"

It struck him like a blow to the chest.

Ten years! He was ten years in the future! No freaking way!

"Holy cow." he said, rubbing his hand through his hair. "I think we really need to talk."

(2)

They were still standing in the crew room. Zack was leaning against the wall. Maddie was standing a few feet away, trying to take in everything he was saying. Her face held a mixture of uncertainty and disbelief.

"So, you're saying that for you, just 15 minutes ago, it was 2019?"

"When I put my hand on the wall in that cave, yes."

"The only thing that makes all this less hard to believe you is that you certainly don't _look _36 at all." she said to him.

"It's pretty hard for me to even believe it myself! Freaking time travel!" Zack said, throwing his hands up and pacing around the room. He stopped suddenly, with a feeling of fear in his stomach. "Oh, God. I wonder if I'll be able to ever get back?"

"I really don't know what to make of all this." Maddie said. "I never thought in a million years that coming to this island it would be _you _I stumbled upon, at least not by this point."

That raised another question for Zack.

"Come to think of it, exactly _why_ are youhere? What's with all the equipment? How did you even get the townspeople to let you in?"

The disturbing suspicion that she could be tied to the Fetch Rock conspiracy briefly crossed his mind, making him wary. He dismissed it nearly immediately, though. He didn't think there was a chance in hell that could possibly be. Still, though, why _was _she here?

"There are no townspeople anymore, Zack." she said.

"Wait, what?" he said, stunned.

"As far as it's known, at least as far back as five years ago, every single person in this town vanished without a trace. This town has become quite well known as one of the strangest missing person's cases in history. Not that it wasn't already strange to begin with."

This shocked him. His head was really spinning. Boy, could he really use a drink right now.

"Now, wait just a second," Zack said. "How did anyone even figure that out, considering how secluded this town is from the outside world?"

"Because it was five years ago when your brother Cody came looking for you."

Zack felt a lurch in his stomach.

_Cody..._

"Your brother is the reason this town became famous. You have no idea how he grieved for you when you disappeared. And your mother and father... we all knew Cody was hiding something he wasn't telling us. It was five years ago when he confided in me the truth. He wasn't able take it anymore. He'd been working for years trying to crack that disc you gave him. But he wasn't able to take it for long. He had to come to this town and see for himself. He broke his promise to you. But when he arrived, it was completely abandoned. No trace of anyone whatsoever.

"It sort of ended up leaking out. Cody went to the nearest town and got the police involved. A number of people from the Quincy police department came down with him to investigate. Then several more detectives arrived for a thorough search of the town. No one was found. It's been this way since. The town has gained some popularization by the media. The people from the neighboring towns are too afraid to come down here. Many people believe this town is cursed. But it's also gained something of a legendary status among paranormal enthusiasts and ghost hunters."

"Ghost hunters?"

"Yes. Like me."

"Say what again?" he said surprised. "You're a ghost hunter?"

"After graduating NYU with a masters in child psychology, I went back to study for a bachelor's in a new program they had opened up for Paranormal Sciences."

"They actually have a degree for that?" he asked.

"Paranormal research is starting to gain ground and become more seriously considered in modern science. I took it merely as a hobby. I've always been fascinated in the supernatural, and it was something I simply did for myself, just for fun."

"I see." he said. "So, you're trying to see if you can find any ghosts in this place?"

"I'm looking for clues as to what may have happened."

"Is this your first time here?"

"No. My first time was when I came here with Cody. Since then, many 'ghost hunters' and paranormal enthusiasts have made their way here, poking around town for any sort of clues."

"And no one found anything?"

"No. As far as anyone's been able to find, it seems to be just a normal town."

"This isn't a normal town, Maddie. This town was home to a cult that's pretty whacked out. I've seen a bit of it." Zack said, starting to pace the room restlessly.

"I know, from what Cody told me. That's why _I'm_ here. This is more than just pleasure. I'm curious to see if there's something that may have been missed."

"I wonder if Archimedes had everything incriminating removed before everyone departed." Zack mused, standing with one arm crossed and putting his chin on his hand.

"That's one of the biggest mysteries of this town." Maddie said. "'Departed' might not be the right word."

Zack looked at her. "Why? Are you suggesting they vanished into thin air?"

"That's exactly what it appears happened. If they left town and moved on elsewhere, they didn't take anything with them. They left behind clothes, personal items, even their vehicles. The few restaurants in this town still had food sitting out on tables. It was bad and growing mold by the time anyone found it."

"Did the investigators find anything of interest in the municipal building? I know for a fact they have a temple of some kind underneath it. And what about the church?"

"The church was thoroughly investigated. There was nothing in the church to indicate it was anything but a church. And nothing was find in or around the municipal building to indicate there's anything underneath."

"It's there! I assure you! They must not have looked thoroughly enough."

"I participated in some of these groups. You'd be surprised at how thorough we were. Considering all the strange legends and rumors about this place, it has been of somewhat of a disappointment to many fans of the paranormal that nothing significant has ever been found. Cody and I searched the town pretty thoroughly together. We were hoping to find you or some trace of what might have happened to you."

"Come to think of it, when Cody was here, we were not able to find the entrance to the cave." Zack mused. "When I came back by myself, it was right where we'd been looking."

"Cody and I rechecked the island, too. We could find no such cave."

"Incidentally, if you've already checked around town in the past and found nothing, what brings you here today?" he asked her.

"Well, it's hard to explain. It was just a feeling, more or less. It's been five years since we searched for you. I don't know... I just felt like maybe coming back and doing a little research one more time. It was more of an impulse than anything else."

"It's not safe to be here. This town is dangerous." Zack said.

"It's abandoned." Maddie replied.

"We've already just verified the bizarre existence of time travel. And I can guarantee you there is something most definitely supernatural going on here. There's something particular about this lighthouse. I don't think you should be here at all."

"I came to do research and fi…"

"You found me." he interrupted her. "By some bizarre coincidence, you just happened to be here the day I emerged from the cave. But there's something else in this lighthouse, trust me, and I'm pretty certain it's more than just a ghost. You don't want to be here, especially by yourself."

There was a seriousness in his eyes that made her consider it.

"Then maybe we can explore the town together."

He shook his head.

"I don't think that would work either."

"So you want me to just leave?" she said, a tint of anger in her voice. "I've spent the last several years trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together in hopes of finding out what happened here, what happened to _you_. And you want me to just pack up and go while you wander around the town all by yourself?"

"It's not that." he said. "Maybe it will be easier if I explain my side of the story from the very beginning."

(3)

"So, what you're saying is that if I tag along with you, it might prevent you from seeing something you'd be able to see otherwise?" Maddie said.

"I don't know for certain. It's just that with my name appearing in that book and Cody and I not being able to see the writing in the journal nor the cave entrance when he was with me leads me to think so."

"So what am I supposed to do, then?"

"Don't think at all I'm just trying to just send you away. I'm not keen on the idea of separating at all. I'm worried about you being here in this town. We don't know how all these people disappeared. We don't know it won't happen to you, too. And this lighthouse… based off what I read in that journal, I feel like Oliver is here, watching you, watching us. But I suspect that if we stick together I'll also not be able to find what I need to find."

"So, you really think all of this ties back to you somehow?"

"I don't know how or why. I'm nobody special. I'm just an average, successful guy just trying to make it through this life. I never asked for any of this. All I wanted at the beginning of all of this was just to find Maya. I suppose it's pointless to ask if she turned up after all these years?"

"No." Maddie said.

_Figures. _Zack thought, feeling a great sadness in the pit of his stomach again.

"Then," Zack said. "She's probably dead."

"You can't be so certain of that." Maddie said.

"Yes I can! It's the truth I haven't been wanting to face all this time. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have even bothered coming out to this town in the first place. All I did was create more misery, for my brother, my parents, you…" Zack said frustrated.

"You can't keep beating yourself up forever." she said as she gently touched his shoulder.

"Although I kinda wonder..." Zack said. "Finding my name in that book... I wonder if perhaps I would have lost her anyway. Maybe all of this was inevitable. Maybe it was all a set up. And if that's true, you can't imagine just how mad that makes me." He clenched his fist. "And I know that if that is true, I'm not going to let Archimedes, this town, this cult, these 'higher connections,' Malakai... whatever the hell we're up against... I'm not going to back down until it kills me! I have little else to live for at this point. And as God or whatever higher being out there is my witness, I'm not going down without a fight!"

"I want to help you in any way I can." Maddie said.

"You can't. This is my fight. I'm the Harbinger mentioned in the journal. There's nothing you guys can do. And I can't have you guys getting hurt as a result of my actions. No more. Not you. Not Cody. Not Bailey. No one else."

"You can't overcome this by yourself! No one can overcome something like this by themselves." she said to him.

"Your emotional support is all I need." he said to her, then resumed his pacing. "What particularly frightens me is that I feel this may be all a part of destiny. Like this is my own personal fight to lose or finish."

"You surely can't be asking everyone, me and your brother and everyone else who cares about you to just stand on the sidelines!"

He stood and looked at her. "As I've already said to Cody several times now, if you really care about me, that's exactly what you'll do."

She could only look at him with a frustrated look on her face. "So, what is your plan for now?"

"To go on a hunt. Now that this town is empty, there are a lot of places open to me to explore. I'm going to take advantage of this."

"And what do you want me to do?"

"Would you please mind waiting at the inn for me? Search the town again yourself, if you like. I guess the inn's no safer than anywhere else, really. I just specifically don't trust this lighthouse."

"Where all are you going to look?"

"I want to check Archimedes' house, the church, and city hall."

She nodded.

"If you think the lighthouse is really dangerous, I trust you. But I want to continue my own investigation in this town. I didn't come all this way for no reason."

"I just want you to be careful. There's no telling what might be here with us. I know from what I've already experienced."

"I have an idea." Maddie said. She walked over to a big leather bag that was on the ground, no doubt a bag with her equipment inside. She pulled out two walkie-talkies. "If anything happens, we can talk to each other with these. That way we can make sure each other is okay if need be."

"That sounds like a good idea." Zack said, taking one of the walkie-talkies.

"I'm staying at a place that's set up like an inn. It's a blue house just down from main street…"

"I know where you're talking about. I stayed there myself."

"I'm on the first room to the right on the second floor."

"Same one I stayed in too."

They headed out of the lighthouse and down to her boat. Eventually, they docked at the ghost town, and proceeded their separate ways.

As Zack looked around, he could perceive no change, though at the same time, it was as if everything had changed. It seemed as if there was a bit of a fog over the entire town, too, giving it an even more eerie, unsettling look.

Zack wasn't so much unsettled. If anything, he felt a tinge of anticipation. He now had the change he had been wanting so bad. The chance to explore the secrets of the town unhindered.


	14. Ghost Town

**Dark Fall II**

**Part II - Conspiracy**

**Chapter 13: Ghost Town**

(1)

Zack cracked open the door to Archimedes' house. He was surprised to find it unlocked. He felt that if the people of this town had left everything unlocked, it would make things a heck of a lot easier.

Zack had expected Archimedes' house to be a treasure trove of information about the man, which was why he'd come here first. But as he proceeded to search the house from top to bottom, he could find nothing of interest whatsoever.

He found an office with more bookshelves and a desk with nothing in it but papers pertaining to running the town. Nothing tell-tale or notable at all.

Well, should he have been surprised? The ghost hunters had found nothing. What made him think he was going to find anything they hadn't, just because he was by himself? This place as a whole wasn't the same supernatural weirdness as the lighthouse, as far as he knew. Was he really sure he was going to find anything significant around here?

He left Archimedes' house reluctantly and went for a brisk walk towards the other side of town where the church was.

City Hall was closer, but Zack wanted to check the church first. He wanted the temple to be his last stop.

The air was just about as chilled as when he went into the lighthouse. The town gave off the unearthly silence of the dead all around him. He moved quickly and alertly.

(2)

Zack opened the door of the church and stepped once again into the unholy feeling sanctuary, which was, in fact, what it most certainly felt like. There was a presence here, it felt. Zack hadn't really noticed it when he'd first been here, but he felt it strongly now. Foreboding darkness.

Of course, such feelings were possibly just in his head. The fact that he was alone in this place only made it all the creepier.

He headed up towards the pulpit. He was not surprised to find that the Bible Archimedes had been teaching out of was missing. Of course it was. Surely, if such a thing had been lying out, someone would have already discovered it.

Had the cult taken it with them when they'd left?

But Zack had to consider one thing: exactly how thorough would those ghost hunters have been? They would have been here with only one thing in mind: figuring out what they could from a perspective of discovering supernatural activity. They would have been less interested in uncovering the actual secrets of what made this town tick. Or would they have been?

Was it possible that what Zack really wanted to peruse through, in fact, hidden somewhere here where it could have already been found had someone been looking for it?

Zack thought it unlikely. Surely the cult had taken it with them when they'd left.

Zack looked the pulpit up and down. And then he saw something odd. At the bottom, where it touched the ground, there seemed a small crack in the ground, an opening.

Zack suddenly got the strangest idea.

Zack pushed on the pulpit. It started to move. Zack couldn't believe his blind luck. The pulpit started to move revealing an opening in the ground underneath. And inside the hole was a very large, odd looking leather bound book.

_Could it be...? Could it be...?_

Zack pushed the pulpit as far as he could and took it out of the hole. He sat down on the floor and opened it up.

_No freaking way!_ He thought to himself. They had actually left it behind! He was holding in his hands what he could have only guessed what was the cult's Bible!

He opened it up randomly to a page in the middle and started reading. He flipped through and found the town's version of 'The Lord's Prayer' that Archimedes had been reading. No difference there.

Zack noted as he perused through it that the book was actually arranged like a type of Bible. It was separated by books and literary styles. He found toward the beginning what was apparently the cult's creation story.

'_The world was formed in light. The universe was light, and the light was God. The universe was in disorder and chaos. In order to bring order and stability to the universe, the light created a divine son. This Son was borne out of the darkness, and he is the other son, the one who will stand against the sun. It was through him that all things were created. He was also the vessel through whom the universe created order. God was borne of this light. It was through God that all planets and stars were formed. But lo, God saw it fit that He should not right the chaos of the universe to order through himself alone. And so God said to himself - "Behold, I will create lesser beings, bearing an image of the divine, and I shall reconcile them to myself, and through communion with the divine, shall then come order to chaos, and they shall be Gods like me." So He spoke and formed the Earth and everything in it. He also made man, male and female, and breathed into them an image of the divine. And he spoke unto them, saying: "Be fruitful and multiply. Embrace your divinehood. Be like God, and become God."'_

Zack flipped ahead a few pages.

_'And God came down and saw the Tower of Babel. And He said to Himself: "These images of the divine I created would extend their throne even above mine, if possible! They have rebelled against the divine that has created them, by their own selfish nature." So God visited a plague of confusion, and He stripped away their knowledge of the divine language. So now it became thus that man can no longer have divine control over the world, and thus it fell under a curse. Man was forced to create new languages for themselves, but could never again recover the language of the divine, for it had been taken away from them. Man had desired to overthrow God, and God had said of this: "Behold, man could not overthrow that from which they came, and through attempting to do so, they have come to understand the greater darkness. Behold, I have created a great deception! They continue the path to godhood, though they know it not, yet most are lost in ignorance!" For it shall come to pass that every man shall call evil good, and good evil, and it shall be in their own knowledge that evil is good, and good is evil, for it is through the nature of the false, that is, that which is actually is the true light. Though the world perceives it not, so shall the path of godhood be attained by the Elect. And the Elect shall know this and perceive this, but most shall be ignorant, and the same shall be spoken of knowledge, though in fact the knowledge is spoken of as if in ignorance. For it is through this that their souls may be saved and they shall pursue the path of the divine through ignorance, which is in fact true knowledge. And God looked upon the state of the world and the bloodshed and strife therein, and He said: "Behold, it IS good."_

This whole thing was very confusing. Zack didn't know what to make of it at all. He could have sworn that the things written in this book were confusing because they were deliberately intended to be confusing.

Zack flipped through the book some more. He flipped past the parts telling about the creation of the universe. He flipped through a few sections telling of God setting up the rituals by which the Elect would live by. He continued to skim through these, stopping to read random parts every so often before skimming again, hoping to get at least some minor overview as to what this religion was all about:

'_The Elect shall live by separation from the outside world. The outside shall be considered corrupt and evil, and it will taint the election to godhood. Believers shall not fraternize not with the world nor the things of the world, lest they be led astray to neverending perdition in the next life.'_

Flip.

'_You shall not be dishonest among thy bretheren. You shall obey your leaders in all they proclaim, no matter what is being asked. The secrets of God are imparted to them, but they are not imparted to ordinary mortal man. Therefore, listen to your leaders. It is repeated again, you shall not bring harm to your brethren unless they turn their backs on God and embrace the world. Only then are you allowed to treat them coldly and have no compassion on them. There are no rules against inhospitality against outsiders, for they come from the corrupted world, and are corrupted by the world. Therefore be inhospitable to them. But listen to the words of your leaders, for they are like Gods to you. Do not permit outsiders to stay indefinitely in your community, and do not speak with them nor fraternize with them in any way beyond what you must do to get them to leave.'_

Flip.

'_There are to be no poor and needy among you. Each must take care of each's own. But the poor and needy of the outside world are of no concern to you. They are destined for perdition along with the rest of the outside world. Therefore, have no compassion on them. Care not about their plights.'_

Zack felt a tinge of anger at reading something like that. Zack was not a person who was very familiar with general religion, but he was certain that compassion toward the poor in the world was a basic tenet of most religions. He flipped the page.

'_To leave the community for the outside world, for any reason, is tantamount to turning thy back on God. They shall not be welcomed back. Shun them as you would any outsider. Let them not back into thy community. Only leaders of the community may journey to the outside world for any reason. The leaders are like Gods and are unable to be corrupted. They are allowed and have the strength to journey into the outside world safely. Listen to what they tell you in all things.'_

Zack flipped a few more pages and stopped on one particular gem:

_'And the Priest shall cut his hand, and his blood shall be splashed down upon the bread and into the wine. And the people shall thenceforth drink of the blood-soaked wine and partake of the blood-soaked bread. It is through this that sanctification shall be received, for the Priest is like God to the people, and therefore the priest's blood is sanctification to the people. And it is through the eating and drinking of the divine blood of the leader, who is God to the people, that the people will be viewed as sanctified before God. Once a month thy must do this, and then God shall look down upon the people, see the blood they have partaken, and be pleased.'_

As far as Zack could tell from looking through the book, the religion of Fetch Rock was designed to make people obey and keep them in line, and it was specifically designed so they would never dare chance leaving the town and experiencing what the outside world was like. The town leader was revered as God, and he had the only say in all things. The part of this book that had commanded the townspeople to obey to the letter anything the leader said was chilling to him. He thought of some of the famous cult leaders he'd seen documentaries about on television such as David Koresh and Jim Jones.

The purpose of this religion claimed to be about attaining godhood through separation and obedience. But what type of godhood? He had to wonder. And why, for that matter? Had this religion actually started as a good-intentioned way of drawing closer to 'God?' Or was there some other hidden purpose behind it? Zack couldn't shake the uneasy feeling there was more to all this than what was observable simply from the outside.

Zack closed the book. He was reliving the memory of the church service he had experienced on his first visit to Fetch Rock, and it was making him sick again. He wanted to take a look at this book more thoroughly, but he also didn't have time to sit here and read all day. There was much more to still check out and investigate.

Zack really wanted to take the book with him, but it was quite a tome, and it was pretty heavy. He knew he wouldn't be able to lug it with him all over town. He would have to come back for it. He turned it over in his hands and was shocked at what was on the back.

There was a key embedded in the back. A large, ornate key. Zack reached his hand for the back of the book and carefully pulled it out. He had no clue what the key went to. His first thought was that the key was meant for the lock in the book, but as Zack tried to insert it, it didn't fit. Clearly it went to something else. Zack pocketed it, just in case he came across something that had an obvious keyhole.

Zack carefully placed the book back into the hole. He didn't bother moving the podium back. He sincerely doubted anyone was going to be popping by to take it.

He stood up from where he had been sitting. It was time to see what other secrets this church held.

(3)

Zack began his search throughout the sanctuary, keeping his eyes peeled for any place a key might be used, but his search turned up nothing else of interest. Zack then went next to Archimedes' office and poked around in it. He looked in desk drawers, cabinets, and all the obvious places as well as not-so-obvious places. The stuff he turned up was just as boring and unhelpful as Archimedes' other office in his own home. The papers and stuff here pertained only to matters of the church, and there was nothing tell-tale that might give a clue as to the inner workings of the religion itself.

Zack could only wish his brother were actually with him. Cody had a better mind for this kind of sleuthing. He'd probably be able to see a million different solutions and notice certain things he couldn't

Zack spent some time poking around the rest of the church. Mostly it was nothing but other offices that turned up no particular information whatsoever. Zack was even thorough enough to check the bathrooms, to no avail. Zack did have to make note that there was no parish hall nor kitchen of any sort in this church. He was fairly certain most churches, if not all, were usually equipped with such facilities.

The only conclusion Zack could come up with for his lack of turning up information was that the cult had been careful. They hadn't just left information lying around that the average person could just stumble across.

The fact that he'd been able to find the religion's 'Bible,' however, gave support to Maddie's theory that everyone had vanished unexpectedly. But did that mean Archimedes had vanished into thin air as well? Zack wasn't really buying it. He just couldn't shake the feeling that Archimedes was probably just fine, probably even had orchestrated the disappearances! So had Archimedes left the book there? Was Archimedes perhaps even somewhere in town? Was he watching Zack?

Zack had by this point looked everywhere in the church, and poked around in every possible place whatsoever. He searched through the church two more times just to be certain he hadn't missed anything. He was particularly looking for somewhere to use that key. But he could not find anything else of interest in the church. He was a little frustrated. But he also had to consider the theory that they key could go somewhere else in the town.

For purposes of efficiency, Zack decided to continue his search throughout the town and return here if need be.

(5)

The city hall was one of the only buildings in town, save for the church, who's actually looked like what its function was intended to be.

Directly inside, two large double doors stood before Zack that led into another room. He could see there were hallways leading down either side. At least Zack knew there was something definitely here to discover. And since none of the other people who had ventured into this town had been able to find the temple, Zack knew that his chances of finding it were probably going to be a little tricky.

Zack didn't feel like wasting his time poking around the probably more unimpressive offices in this building. But when he entered the double doors before him, he figured that this room was probably his best bet. It was a large, wide open space. Directly in front of him, he could see a booth like the kind a judge would sit at in court. There was a point on the wall that jutted out with some kind of coat of arms upon it directly behind where the judge sat, but on the left and right there were benches for sitting that were not unlike what you would see a jury sitting in. These extended from left or right, starting out where the portion of the wall sticking out was, and continuing on until hitting the corner of each other's respective walls, then turning and going down a short ways ending with small waist-high wooden doors that didn't touch the floor and swung open to let the judge or jury members in.

This place was certainly served the obvious functions that it would have in any other town, but what other secrets did this particular room hold?

Zack walked across the tiled floor toward where the judge's both sat. The place had the smell of a neatly preserved, office type of building.

Zack walked around the judge's booth, examining it. There was nothing of note. But Zack turned and his eye was immediately drawn to the coat of arms.

It was a shield, with two swords cutting through it diagonally. There were two rather demonic looking serpents encircling the blades, their heads coming out from being wrapped around the handles of the blades, mouths opened menacingly, baring forth their fangs and forked tongues shooting out of their mouths.

But what drew Zack's attention the most was the keyhole in the middle.

Zack put his hand on the coat of arms and looked close at the hole. Then he fished the key he had found on the cult's 'Bible' out of his pocket, stuck it in, and turned it.

It fit perfectly, and with the click, a rumbling noise sounded in the middle of the room.

Zack looked over and saw that a giant section of the middle of the floor was now rising. It was rising open right in front of him, the key apparently having activating some type of apparatus where the part of the floor had rods attached to it and some mechanical device was pushing it up. There were stairs descending down below.

Bingo. Zack had found his temple!

Walking over and standing before the entrance into the darkness down below, Zack could only imagine what could possibly be down there. He fished out his flashlight, clicked it on, and descended.

(6)

Descending into the darkness, the stairs ended in a short stone hallway that opened up into a very large, circular room. Directly across was an opening leading to somewhere else. In this particular room, where the stone changed suddenly from a dull gray to a lime like green, the main attraction that stood out were the huge, stone statues of demons, also green, that circled the room.

There were actually six of them in all, one on each side near the entrance Zack had come in, two towards the middle, and two near the exit across. Horrible abominations. All of the statues were holding bowls in their hands. If they were symbolic of something, it was completely lost on Zack. On the floor below was drawn in white some sort of giant circular symbol. There was another circle on the inside, just within inches of the first, and many sorts of symbols all around that Zack would have had no way of knowing what they meant. Lines crisscrossed all throughout the entirety of the thing, connecting in odd ways, and there were symbols placed at specific points all throughout. It looked like some sort of magic symbol you might see in a book of witchcraft, to be sure, but again, Zack had no way of knowing what it meant.

In front of and behind the demonic statues in the middle there were also pedestals. There were four in all, set up like podiums. Each podium had an open book sitting on it.

When Zack walked up to one, the one opposite the entrance on the left, and flipped through it, he could see that apparently it pertained to rules for running the town. As Zack examined the books one at a time, he found that each one focused on one specific theme.

Bingo! Zack was finally about to get a look at the real inner workings of this town.

The first book he examined pertained to things of a Spiritual nature:

_'All those who abide in our community must assert the existence of the divine Lord that we serve and the doctrines and teachings handed down to us. Those who do not abide by these tenants must be cut off from our people. They will not abide in our community, and they will not be welcome in our community any longer. Those who have been excommunicated for reasons of rejecting the divine truth are not to even be spoken to. Upon returning to the town or refusing to remove themselves from the presence of the community of Fetch Rock, they will be charged with trespass of private property and turned over to the Quincy police._

_However, if the offender does come once again to begin to sincerely seek the knowledge of the truth, and if they do wish to return to their people, and they show that their desire is truthful and worthy, then they may return and perform acts of penance. They will be placed in isolation and not allowed interaction with anyone nor to do any work or take part in any sort of pleasure for a period of three and a half weeks. The holding place(s) are in a special cell block located underneath the police station. There is no light, sound, nor any communication of any kind. Food is served discretely through a special slot in the door, but food shall be rationed sparingly. The time of isolation is a time of being alone with God and very little else. It is for the transgressor to think upon their sins and mistakes and find reconciliation.'_

Zack felt a chill. The police station. He knew where his search was going to be leading him next. Had Maya been put in one of these cells? He was going to have to take a look at these for himself.

'_One who abandons the process of penance before the three and a half weeks are up shall never again be able to seek penance. They shall be cut off from the community indefinitely. Neither shall anyone who turns their back on the faith a second time be allowed to go through penance ever again. By continuing to leave that which they once held to be truth and changing their minds over and over again, they are blaspheming the divine and spitting in the face of our God. They shall not be allowed in our town nor take part with our people.'_

Zack flipped several pages.

_'All services of church in the worship of our Lord must be attended by all people, always. Consideration will be given to those who are ill or infirm. The Priest and leaders of the community may pay them separate visits to hold services in private. If it is revealed that the infirmary is a fake or not inhibiting to the function of the individual to attend services physically, he has then committed an abomination. See Citizenship laws for guidelines for what constitutes acceptable degrees of illnesses as well as punishments for transgressions of this nature.'_

Flip.

_'No blasphemy of God is tolerated, ever. Blasphemy of the divine is a willful choice and will not be forgiven. Blasphemers will never be given a chance of penance, nor shall there ever be a chance of returning to the community ever again. Blasphemy is not defined as a falling away from the faith. It is any word or phrase that comes out of ones mouth in direct defiance against the God we serve and His precepts He has laid down before us. Such things shall not be tolerated among us. They shall be cast off from the community indefinitely.'_

Zack walked over to the next book and began looking through it. This one appeared to pertain to laws of citizenship:

_'Each citizen shall abide by the schedules set before them by the governing leaders of Fetch Rock according to occupation and other considering factors. Every man or woman shall do the work assigned to them by following a strictly crafted schedule. Laws shall vary depending on whether the individual is married, single, disabled, aged, or by other varying factors.'_

Flip.

_'Each person is to be married, and each person is to have their own spouse so long as they are not disabled nor incapable of having children. Each eligible individual must find a wife for themselves by the age of 18. Typically, these marriages will be arranged. If for reasons of choosing to remain single, either because of desire to give themselves more wholly to God, or if they are disabled, or if they do not wish to get married for the simple reason of not desiring marriage, then male individuals must be castrated, and the female individuals must endure the burning off of the clitoris. There will be no anesthesia nor drugs administered for lessening of pain. They have chosen their path before God and will face the consequences. By this, they shall be purified.'_

Zack felt sick to his stomach. He would have to seriously rethink his earlier thoughts of moving to this town and becoming a citizen.

He flipped a page.

_'There is to be no use of contraception. There must be at all times enough children for each new generation, of equal amounts in both genders, for us to thrive and survive. It is the duty of citizens to procreate and often. However, in necessity of population control, since it is not the desire of our God that we exceed a specific maximum population specifically because our community must remain small and closed off, and since there must be an equal amount of males and females for each to have their own spouse given in marriage, excessive male babies or excessive female babies that would take the population past its limit and/or create and unequal amount of males and females to be available to be given in marriage must be aborted. Nevertheless, it is the duty of every citizen of this town to continue procreation until the desired gender is acquired.'_

Zack was feeling the need to retch. He was having a hard time holding the contents of his stomach down. He didn't care if he was some outsider 'incapable of understanding.' This stuff was just plain sick.

_'If necessary, each couple will be given a mandate of the gender they need to acquire, and they must keep trying to have a child until a child of the preferred gender is received. All others must be terminated in utero. If the couple is unable to produce the assigned gender, it will be considered that they may be under a curse from our Lord. A council shall be called together, and lots shall be cast. If the lots determine the female is under a curse, the marriage shall be annulled, her clitoris shall be burned off, and she shall be sent to isolation for three and a half weeks and then be brought out and entered into a more wholesome service to our Lord. A new wife will be assigned to the husband. If the lots are cast and it is determined that the male is the one under a curse from our Lord, then he shall be castrated, the marriage shall be annulled, and he shall be sent to isolation for three and a half weeks, and then he shall be brought out and entered into a more wholesome service to our Lord. A new husband shall then be assigned to the husband. If the lots are cast and it is determined that both the husband and wife are under a curse, then the male shall be castrated, the female shall endure burning off of the clitoris, the marriage shall be annulled, and they shall be sent to isolation for three and a half week. Then they shall be brought out and entered into a more wholesome service to our Lord.'_

Zack could feel his feelings of anger growing even stronger now. He flipped a few more pages.

_'If it turns out that one of the spouses is infertile, the one who is infertile shall be terminated from the marriage, and shall be castrated, or have the clitoris burned off, and they shall be entered into the service of serving our Lord in a fuller way. A new partner shall be arranged for the one who is fertile.'_

Flip.

_'Homosexuality is not permitted at any time. If it comes to light that a man or woman has an uncontrollable attraction to the same sex, and not the opposite of that which is good and wholesome for childbearing, the male shall be castrated, or the female shall have the clitoris burned off, and they shall be sent to isolation for three and a half weeks, then they shall be brought out, and then they shall be entered into a more wholesome service to our God. If one actually engages in a homosexual act and is caught, it will be considered unforgivable. They will, if they desire to keep in with the faith and not be cast out from the community indefinitely, be punished by mutilation of the genitals and placed in isolation for three and a half weeks in hopes of finding repentance for their souls and coming back into the community of faith. No anesthesia nor drugs shall be given to lessen the pain.'_

Zack was so angry he grabbed the book and threw it onto the ground. He was seething. He wanted nothing more by this point than to tear this town apart with his own two hands. He was starting to feel more and more an intense sadness for the people who'd lived here and all they'd been subjected to. He knew now that the common people here were innocent. It was Archimedes, the town leaders, and those above them, who were responsible for all this. But why? And to what end? Zack couldn't figure it out. It made him even more frustrated and angry thinking about it. Especially since he and his wife had somehow gotten mixed up in all of this!

Very cautiously, he made his way to the third book. He was almost afraid to read it. This one seemed to consist of laws pertaining to performing work. Mostly, it listed all the different necessary jobs that existed in Fetch Rock, along with laws and regulations concerning each of them. Also listed were codes of conduct pertaining to appropriate work ethics. As Zack skimmed through it briefly, he was relieved to find that this one was thankfully far more boring than the last one.

He made his way over to the fourth book. A quick perusal revealed that this book pertained to regulations for rules of conduct when dealing with visitors:

_'No guest or tourist is ever welcome in our town. They come from the faithless outside world and are not given the wisdom of God to understand our ways. They are, in a literal sense, the deadwood of God, the kindling for the fires of judgment to come. They are worth nothing further in the divine plan of God. They must be treated coldly, and with contempt, so that they will leave and not want to come back, lest they poke around too much into the secrets of our religion and/or corrupt the people here. God's wisdom is not intended for the likes of them, unless God speaks to the priest directly and wills it. (See below for regulations pertaining to divinely approved converts to the faith.) There may come times that some visitors to Fetch Rock will have legitimate business here. This is not concerning law enforcement specifically. Such codes for dealing with outside law enforcement and the like is covered elsewhere in these laws. Those outsiders who have legitimate business in Fetch Rock must take care of their business as soon as possible and then move on. The town leader and heads of the town must do everything they can to speed up this process. Because our land is private, we do have the right to call in external law enforcement and have them removed; however, we also must not act so secretive as to arouse great suspicion above the norm. But it is the duty of every citizen to ensure that every visitor be made as uncomfortable as possible. But they must also leave wholly unable to prove anything related to anything that might be considered lacking in the standards set by the faithless outside world. Visitors may be allowed to witness our church service at the discretion of the appointed town leader. This is for purposes of discomfort, and to increase the desire of the intruder to vacate the town, but also to alleviate suspicion that we are anything more than a type of 'strange' cult variation of Christianity.'_

Flip.

_'External law enforcement will always be necessary to deal with certain visitors from time to time. We must always cooperate to the fullest with them in order to maintain our integrity and alleviate suspicion as to the inner workings of our town. It is for this purpose that tenants of our faith must never be written down except for within these laws and our safeguarded, hidden sacred texts. No citizen of Fetch Rock is to ever otherwise write down anything related to our faith, ever where it can be found by a nosy, faithless outsider.'_

Flip. Flip. Flip.

_'The sacred text that is used by the Priest is for the Priest's eyes only and for those enlightened within the governing body of the town as chosen by our God. The sacred texts contain knowledge that is not to be publicly known by the majority of those in the faith. The spiritual evolution of the average human being who has not been chosen by God would not be able to handle the revelations contained within the sacred texts. For the unchosen to violate this law and read the sacred texts is to be afflicted with a delusion of total ignorance by God, so that they can never achieve salvation nor penance. They must be placed in isolation for three and a half months along with sessions with the Priest/head of the community to try and recover them from their insanity. This therapy will not save them, only make them suitable to function within the outside world. At the end of their 'recovery,' they shall be cast off from the community and sent into the outside world where they shall live out the rest of their days. There is no salvation for the soul that gains knowledge too early. Their minds are unable to handle the revelation of the divine, and they will instantly revert to being one of the cursed faithless.'_

So in other words, Zack thought, the religion is designed so that the 'higher knowledge' is only known and interpreted by a select few, which is likely essentially so they can make the townspeople do whatever they want, and if anyone gets even a peak of the so-called 'higher knowledge,' then they are arrested, put in maddening isolation, and given brainwashing therapy sessions by Archimedes or whoever until they become confused and disillusioned enough, and then they harshly excommunicate them to the outside world to fend for themselves.

This town was no Mickey Mouse operation. This was very elaborate, and everything here was carefully done. Most of those who lived here and grew up under this stuff were nothing more than innocent victims. It was all about control and power. But to what end? Exactly what were they trying to accomplish with all this?

The people running this town were twisted. Zack had only scratched the surface of these laws. The books individually looked like they took up several hundred pages each! Zack could be kept for several weeks reading through all of these. He didn't want to. He couldn't take that much more. He couldn't imagine what more pressing on would reveal.

He'd been hoping to find something in his investigation of the town. He'd gotten more than he bargained for. He was finding too much.

He pressed on through the exit to the next room which was, in fact, a narrow hall. It led down quite a ways, then turned a corner.

The hall continued down a short ways and then stopped at an iron door.

Zack tried it. It was locked. There was a keyhole with an ornate design in contrast to the rest of the door. Crap.

Zack didn't think it would work, but he pulled out his key and tried anyways. He was surprised when the key slipped in easily and turned.

This must be some sort of master key which only people like Archimedes had that could get him into special secret places that had a certain lock.

The room Zack entered was pretty small. There were stone walls all around in a very enclosed space. Four pillars stood in each corner of the room. At the tops and bottoms of each pillar, a multitude of carved grotesque demonic heads leered out.

The main attraction was the altar at the center on top of which was a black, leather bound book.

Zack went up to it and opened it up to take a look.

Zack was horrified at what he found in the book from the moment he opened it. What he was looking at right now only intensified the mystery even further and brought it to greater disturbing ends. It was a bizarre tome filled with Satanic rites, black magic spells, dark rituals, pages of information on demons and summoning them to do your bidding, and loads of other horrifying things. Zack stopped on one page:

_'Our Lord Abaddon, who art in Hell_

_Hallowed be Thy Name_

_Thy Kingdom come_

_Thy depravity be done_

_On Earth as it is in Hell_

_Give us today our daily vengeance_

_As we carry out Thine will_

_Allow us to inflict torment, evil, and darkness upon those who trespass against us_

_For they trespass not just against us, but against Thine unholy name_

_Let us give ourselves in to all lust and depravity of the flesh_

_And let us not resist the Evil One_

_But let us give into Him and be merged with Him wholly and eternally_

_Let us become One in Flesh and Spirit_

_For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, the Principality, and the Demonic Glory_

_For Ever and Ever_

_Amen'_

It gave Zack a chill reading it. He especially noted – or was he imagining it? – the seeming similarity between this and Archimedes' version of the Lord's prayer. But the two couldn't possibly be related. Could they? Them again, what exactly what was this book doing here and why?

Zack flipped a few more pages, and came upon one that caught his eye.

_'And the Priest shall cut his hand before the congregation, and his blood shall be splashed down upon the bread and into the wine. And the congregation shall thenceforth drink of the bloody wine and of the bloody bread. It is through this that empowerment shall be received by the whole congregation. The Priest is the mediator between the highest demon, Abaddon, and through his blood, he transfers a portion of his own power to the people. Thus Abaddon looks down with favor upon the participants. He may grant them power. He is less likely to slay them. The people gain greater communion with the king of demons.'_

There was a section underneath titled: Explanation/Explicatus.

'_This ritual is done in blasphemy and defiance of the sacred communion in all Christian churches. The blood of Christ saves through weakness. The blood of demons brings power. We believe that 'salvation' in Christian terms leads to 'servitude' and indebted slavery. Compassion is not a virtue. Being kind and letting others trample over oneself is weakness. El is a weak God who created a weak world and weaker beings. The demonic essence of power is the only true salvation in the world. The demons do not have to give us power, but to a great extent, they understand the war against El and what he has done to the universe. We are a part of this war just as much as they. They give us power as a form of salvation – we believe, real salvation – and our goal is the worship of Abaddon in the form of perversion of all mainstream faiths – the Christian faith, in particular – in anticipation of the day when Abaddon will come into our world and stand against the Son, specifically, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This ritual also has its roots in 'The Ritual of the Pig.' See page VII-VI of the Necronomicon.'_

Zack thought back to the communion service he had witnessed. He was now thoroughly confused. Something was way off. He felt like he was looking at a similar religion as the religion of Fetch Rock, but taken in a heavily more demonic direction. Zack was not the logical person his brother was, but his mind was piecing a few things together, and these things were creating more questions than answers.

Or—

Zack suddenly had a chill.

What if this book was about the original form of the religion, and the religion of Fetch Rock was an altered version used to control the townspeople?

So did this mean that the town leaders worshipped demons, and the people didn't realize the religion they were practicing had its roots in worshipping demons?

Again, Zack had to ask the question, which was becoming more horrifying in its implications by the moment: Why? What the hell were they trying to accomplish with this town and the people here?

Zack flipped to the aforementioned page to find 'The Ritual of the Pig':

_'And the Priest shall enter into the Holy of Holies, and so shall the pig be brought therein, and the Priest shall hold the pig aloft over the bowl while saying these words:_

_'O, Holy is thy name, Abaddon! _

_True ruler of all the heavens and the Earth!_

_Chosen one of the darkness to reign forever and ever!_

_Bless this, this demonic sacrament, and let us not give into the lie of the ignorance of light!_

_Let all ignorance be washed clean with the purification of this unholy blood!_

_For THINE is the Kingdom, the Principality, and the demonic Glory forever and ever!_

_Amen!'_

_Then the Priest shall slice the throat of the pig, letting its blood spill into the bowl. And then it shall be mixed with the wine, and in front of the people, shall the Priest slice his own hand and mix his own blood in with the Sacrament, and it shall become the essence of the divine.'_

Zack remembered his dream, how he'd seen a similar version of the ritual he had actually witnessed, but how a pig had been brought in instead. He looked down to the Explanation/Expilcatus section:

'_The ritual above is ancient, and is generally no longer in practice, though it is still used sometimes, primarily in the Middle East. The Ritual of the Pig was originally created as a parody of the ritual sacrifices in Judaism. Through its practice, demonic energies can be transferred to the Priest and to the congregation.'_

Zack closed the book hard. He'd had enough for the time being. He decided he was going to come back later for all these books, take them, and study them at his leisure. Actually, he was planning on showing up on Cody's doorstep with all of this stuff and going over it all with him. For now, he left the demonic tome sitting on its pedestal, trying to settle the whirling thoughts in his head.

He saw there was another door opposite the one he came in. He walked over and opened it. The door opened into a slightly larger room, this one with no more doors of which to progress through. It had normal stone walls, and the same claustrophobic feel. The room was in a narrow, rectangular shape, not square like the last. There was a desk sitting on the left side, with a wooden chair, and right above it, a very large map of the United States with multiple red pins dotting it in various places. Zack could see that next to each pin a name was written. On closer look, he realized he was looking at the names of towns. He could see a pin located on Massachusetts with 'Fetch Rock' written next to it.

At the end of the room, there was a painted portrait of Archimedes Demarion, and underneath, a small, simple bed. All along the rest of the walls were bookshelves. Glancing through them, Zack saw tons of occult literature.

The desk itself had a computer. There was a stack of empty pieces of paper on the desk as well as several ink pens sitting neatly next to it. A candle holder held an unlit candle.

There was a single lightbulb with a switch at the center of the room. Zack flicked it on and switched off his flashlight. The first thing Zack tried was booting up the PC, but it required a password, and he had no clue. If Cody was here, maybe he could have hacked past it. But he wasn't, and Zack couldn't do anything else about it. But he could have a good poke around in Archimedes' desk.

Zack opened up the top drawer on the right side of the desk. What he saw inside was disturbing and confusing. It was some kind of elaborate, grotesque, golden demon mask. It was interesting, but it meant nothing to Zack, so after a brief glance over, he sat it back in the drawer and closed it. He would forget about it until much later.

The much larger bottom right drawer turned out to be some kind of filing cabinet. Each folder inside appeared to be the name of a different city. There was one for Fetch Rock. Zack took it out.

His disturbing theory proved true. The folder contained papers giving a profile for the city of Fetch Rock. Town population, leader, chief exports...

As Zack looked through many different files, he found that Fetch Rock was just a small speck in one very much larger picture. Fetch Rock was apparently only one of twenty one towns in the U.S. that were connected to this bizarre religion and just as secluded, secretive, and out of the way as this one was.

That raised an interesting question. Why was this town abandoned? Were the others abandoned? And why was all this sensitive information just lying around for someone to come out here and find? If they'd simply left, why hadn't they taken all this stuff with them?

Zack was going to take all this stuff back with him. This was evidence. This was evidence that could potentially bring whatever was going on with these fucked up towns to their knees.

A particular file caught Zack's eye.

Pt. Pleasant.

_No freaking way!_

Zack snatched it up in a hurry.

He already had a feeling what he was going to find. And he was right. When he opened it up he was immediately facing a report that said:

_'The Mothman Conspiracy Report'_

Zack had always been a bit of a geek when it came to urban legends and monster sightings, which was why this particular file interested him considerably.

The Mothman was a creature that had allegedly been spotted many times in Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey, in between the period of November 15, 1966 to December 15, 1967.

On November 15, two young couples from the city reported to police that they had seen a strange, large glowing white creature whose eyes had grown red when car headlights had picked it up. They had described it as a "large flying man with wings" that had pursued their car while driving through an area of the town at night. There had been many more sightings of the Mothman up to December 15, 1967.

The report, Zack was shocked to find out, had a more detailed story of the incident then he had ever heard on any TV show documentary:

'_The incident which spawned the urban legend of the creature known as 'Mothman' originally started in one of our more secluded towns known as 'Bended Arrow,' located in a deep forest area 30 miles away from the town known as 'Pt. Pleasant.' We had set up a town in Bended Arrow due to the surprise discovery of an unusual hole. _

_This hole was not a mega hole, but it was also not a standard hole either. It was the size of which, for reasons most curious, is not mentioned anywhere in the Necronomicon. Of course, it should be noted that the Necronomicon has alluded to other types of holes which would be abnormal and must be treated with as much extreme caution as the larger holes._

_It does occur now that things might have been safer if Bended Arrow had not been put there and if the location had remained overall a secret to those only within our higher ranks._

_The Priest of that town was perhaps a fool. Or, perhaps he simply bended to the overwhelming curiosity of the people. Such disorganized stupidity would never taken place in Fetch Rock, of that, one can be most assured._

_The higher ups in the town held a summoning ritual. Of all the stupid things to do. Naturally, there was no consensus of permission granted from higher up, not even an indication of knowledge given beforehand. This was Father Williams' experiment, and his alone. _

_Was it curiosity? Or just plain stupidity? The human mind can indeed often get the best of fallible humans and lead to resorting to the lowest levels of stupidity, though we often justify these things in our minds making them sound as if a worthwhile pursuits no matter how much they might become our undoing._

_As I've stated, they held a summoning ritual there. They wanted to see what would come out of the hole. Something did come out of it. It was a lesser demon. It had the appearance of a giant moth as described by the two couples with four huge wings like those of flies on its back and red eyes that glowered should they be shined upon with any sort of man-made light._

_When it came out it was energized by the ritual, and imbued with the powers given it, it slaughtered everyone who was present in the chamber. It found its way outside the temple and fed upon some of those in the town, too. But when the metaphysical connection between this world and the underworld broke, it stopped receiving the transference of energy that empowered it to do so much damage._

_Very curious thing. It was a lesser demon to be sure, but at the same time it was the most near completely animal that has ever emerged from one of the holes._

_It became much more 'docile,' if you could call it that, when it stopped receiving energy from the other realm, but it still remained dangerous._

_It did kill some more - but typically only when some unwary person stepped into its lair. It nested in various places around the Pt. Pleasant area for over a year. Many of us were sent to hunt it, but it was damn good at keeping itself secluded and out of sight._

_The Mothman legend started the very night it had been summoned out of the hole, November 15th, when it found its way to the town of Pt. Pleasant. It was seen by two couples, tourists, who were driving in a part of town known as the 'TNT area,' which was the site of a former World War II munitions plant. The demon tailed their car, no doubt still hungering for the taste of mortal human flesh._

_One note about demons: the only reason that they kill is an unquenchable hatred for humanity. The Mothman killed not out of necessity for food, but simply because its demonic nature desired slaughter. But, it had already been disconnected from the metaphysical realms for some time, and its own demonic nature began to weaken. Many lesser demons are not capable of cognition or thought or planning, they are driven only by instinct that comes from the nature of the particular realm they come from._

_The lesser demons have an illusion of intelligence. If you speak to one, you will find that it appears to have knowledge, understanding, and the ability to plot and plan and reason. But it is an illusion. They have no powers whatsoever to speak of. They draw upon the metaphysical knowledge of that which is closest to them, and they use this for the basic mechanism of function that is required to them at that point in time. But these lesser beings truly know nothing. All they are comes from the higher form from whom they are spawned. They are, at best, nothing more than servants of the Most High of all. Only higher level demons have any true wisdom or intelligence._

_Demons give us power. But, demons are also dangerous, because they still come from the darkness that is the innate nature of the universe, the demonic transfiguration we all are longing for. Abaddon has control over them, but Abaddon is a just God, and He allows things to happen of that which is a result of our own free will and stupidity. Thus, it is up to us to hunt down and stop the demonic entities whenever one of us gets stupid enough to dabble and release something. The matter did not personally interest me much - I cared not about the Mothman. There was too much else going on that was more important for my attention._

_The possible discovery of Bended Arrow, for instance. To make sure the town was not discovered, we made it a ghost town overnight. I had the people discreetly moved to Fetch Rock. Not to assimilate into the Fetch Rock community. The purpose was to take this opportunity and not look a gift horse in the mouth. Malakai made good use of them. After all, we don't create these towns, these communities, the faux religion, for simply sport and nothing else._

_But our underestimation of the Mothman proved to be a near costly mistake. The Silver Bridge collapse during rush hour on December 15, 1967, in which 46 people plummeted to their deaths, was rightly attributed in urban legend to the 'Mothman' demon._

_Perhaps its separation from the realm from whence it came was eventually too much for it to bear, but whatever the reason, it was clear Mothman had done an about face and turned much bolder and bloodthirsty than we might have ever intended._

_Thanks to our higher connections, the accident was covered up and blamed on faulty suspension. But Mothman sightings started becoming more prominent, even in broad daylight! We had to do something. It was then that I took it upon myself to head up to Pt. Pleasant to deal with the demon myself._

_I knew that it was a test upon myself. What seemed like eons of doing this sort of work has effectively desensitized me to dealing with matters of the demonic nature, but nevertheless, the familiar sense of excitement welled up within me. I think it is a feeling that will truly never go away. I felt nervous despite the promised protection from a long time ago, even with all the experiences I've had from long periods of time spent inside the very core of the darkness. The dual mark was still burned onto me as ever._

_When I arrived in Pt. Pleasant, I had a very short search. I didn't actually search, technically. I just knew inwardly from the moment I arrived where exactly to head, which specific route to take. My innate knowledge directed me to a forest area where I came upon a clearing. I knew at once I had been correct when I heard the screech above me and looked up to see that awesome apparition, wings beating fast, demonic red eyes full hatred, fangs sticking out of its mouth, drops of drool sliding down out of its mouth._

_The breeze from his wings struck me with a violent gust. I was instantly struck with paralysis, despite the fact I knew I had special protection from Our Lord. I steadied myself. At this time, more than ever, I knew: I must stand strong and have faith!_

_After all, how could I be the Chosen One, if I did not have faith to stand up against even this, especially considering the ages of experience I'd already had dealing with this stuff. Certainly, I, more than any others who have ever lived, was no novice._

_But a sudden, brief sharp fear at the back of my mind struck me. What if it had all been a joke, an amusement? Abaddon was certainly not beyond such a thing. I know this more than anyone else. It would certainly not be beyond Abaddon to allow it to tear into my flesh and devour me whole just for the sport of it all. After all, who am I that He should be so mindful of me? He could have just as easily chosen another had he so wished! It mattered not how long I had been doing the work, or that I had been doing it long before anyone else. Such things are of no particular concern to Abaddon, He could just as easily have chosen anyone else to do the work. Surely, there are those who are as ever committed to the darkness as I always have been. __But even though I could see the malice in the creature's eyes, could see the wonderfully evil gaze that wanted nothing more than to rip me to shreds, in the most excruciatingly painful way possible, it recognized me._

_It knew who I was._

_It couldn't touch me. _

_It let out a shriek. Of rage, maybe._

_It knew its time had come. It was time to return to the underworld. It spoke to me - actually spoke, using that fake illusion of intelligence that lesser demons are known to have._

_It knew what I had come for. It knew what I must do. It knew of the power that dwelled within me, the power of what had been given to me._

_I spoke unto it and told it to follow me. I told it to head to Bended Arrow and wait for me. I also told it that it was not to harm anyone whatsoever - not to even disturb the hairs on someone's head._

_It growled in anger at this, but it had no choice but to consent._

_What an amazing miraculous feeling of power this was! To be untouchable - to wield power over that which is above myself yet under the greatest power in the universe imaginable! Truly, I had felt this power before, but not to the extent I felt it that day. _

_I walked to Bended Arrow - which at this location was 40 miles away. Yet I did not tire once, I even seemed to have a much greater energy than I ever felt! I walked very fast, not even stopping, I must have made it in less than half the time I should have._

_I walked into the ghost town. The Mothman was circling above. I bade it to follow me. I led it begrudgingly through the town, into the town hall, down to the temple underneath where the hole was kept, where all of this had begun._

_I sent the Mothman demon back down the hole. I spoke the incantation. My Lord gave me the right words to say. I opened the connection between realms, sent it down the hole, and finally sealed it._

_So that was the end of that, and the truth about a situation that people in the outside world have been speculating about for years._

_That experience taught me much. About myself, reassured my future, and when I returned to Fetch Rock, I surmise that I was very much not the same man as I had left._

_The legend of the Mothman returned to being myth. The towns nearby now celebrate what they call 'The Mothman Festival.' Fine by me. Let them all have their fun._

_A very curious thing happened, though, which shocked and disturbed me at first. The Mothman is still seen around the area! Usually this precedes some sort of tragedy. I have come through meditation to divine that the Mothman is not actually in the physical realm anymore, but can still be seen whenever negative energies are gathering, much in the same way that demons can be seen on occasion in our realm when they are not actually present in the physical realm at all. Of course, demons can still, to an extent, depending on a number of different variables, phase into the physical realm every now and then. I think this is what is happening. The spirit of the Mothman still haunts the area. It is drawn to the area that was its home for so long. It still thirsts for blood. It's angry that I took that away from it. So, whenever something great and terrible is destined to occur, the Mothman haunts the area, lusting a great and terrible lust, and it can be seen, usually for just a few instances, by those who have eyes to see and take notice._

_It only goes to show that despite my many, many years as a black occultist, there are still a great many things even I do not know about. It continues to be very humbling in many ways._

_- Report to myself, Archimedes Demarion_

Things just kept getting more and more surreal, Zack was thinking. One of the most famous urban legend monsters in history was a result of demon summoning ritual gone wrong? Not to mention that Archimedes had some sort of major power over these forces of the demonic realm? Just how much, and where did it come from?

He was finding all of this very hard to believe. If not for all the other things he'd already seen, he would have doubted it outright.

Zack replaced the report in the file drawer.

He fished out the report for Bended Arrow. It contained nothing particularly significant. It mostly gave general information of what the town had been. The last page was a report done up by Archimedes giving the official go-ahead to abandon the town. Which brought up an interesting question. Just how high up was Archimedes in all of this? Was he perhaps the _leader_ of this entire operation? The very thought was chilling, but Zack was having a harder time coming to any other conclusion. Zack returned the file.

Zack flipped through the files a bit more until he saw one that made his heart nearly stop and leap into his throat.

_Tipton Hotel_

With shaking hands, Zack quickly pulled the file out and opened it up.

As he took the file out with shaking hands and opened it, he couldn't have been any more completely unnerved as when he saw that the first page was a profile of the Boston Tipton Hotel.

_No way! No fucking way!_

Boston. The exact location he had lived in from 11-14 years of age. The place where he held many of his dearest memories. Growing up there as a teenager. Mr. Moseby. Arwin. Maddie. London. Everything. All the memories.

The very thought that the place he had called his home growing up could be involved in this chain of bizarre was more than he could fathom.

Zack briefly wondered if maybe all of this might just happen to be some sort of dream? Some long-going hallucination? Maybe he was actually in a coma somewhere right now.

The profile showed a picture of the hotel, and had written underneath in huge, bold red letters.

'LOCATION OF ONE OF THE MEGA-HOLES'

Zack's heart was beating ninety-to-nothing.

In smaller bold font right below, it read:

'Classification: Extremely Dangerous'

The normal text on the rest of the page gave more detail:

_'Once the site in the ancient past where some ancient travelers who migrated here after what is known as the Tower of Babel incident chose to dwell after Pangaea was split into pieces by controlling forces outside this universe._

_These people were trying to make sense of their world and what had occurred. They were rightly angry with El, and these descendants of Noah sought the forbidden things they had been warned about, passed down from their mutual great-great-grandfather. Thus, it was at several points of the world during this time that the cult(s) of Belial, our ancestors, began to rise again._

_It goes without saying that the separation of the peoples of the world by El was to prevent the cult from spreading throughout all the people of the world at once. El effectively separated the groups whose heart belonged to him from those whose hearts did not. The cult(s) of El would rise again. It was El's intent to, through the free will of those whose hearts were bound to him, mobilize the forces of El against the cult(s) of Belial and continue the attempt(s) of the never ceasing purge._

_Nevermind that El's refusal to use all power to purge all those against him immediately and indefinitely is his greatest weakness. 'Justness' and 'fairness' he calls it, while nevertheless imposing weakness and slavery upon those following him, and it is the reason we shall defeat him in the end, as he shall by his own misguided "virtues" allow us to do._

_But returning to the uniqueness of this location: the ancients who arrived here came across one of the mega holes, one of the great rips caused by the destruction(s) of the pre-Adamic civilization(s). They began putting their newly revitalizing dark crafts into practice. There was a minor remnant that began to catch on and incite a revolt, but they were few, and they made great sacrifices for the rituals._

_They did not slaughter all of the remnant, however, but a few remained, pretending to be going along with the main group. Perhaps it was for the best. The demon that came out was of a rare soul vampire type. It immediately absorbed the souls of those closest to the hole. The others who were pretending to be going along with the cult immediately sprang into action. A prepared sealing incantation was uttered. The demon went back into the hole, and the Sons of El slaughtered the remaining Sons of Belial. They then took action, using what little magic they had left (for it took some time after the Babel incident before true magic completely disappeared from the world) to sink the temple underneath the ground._

_And so it was that in 1948 that George Tipton broke ground on what was to be the location of the Boston Tipton hotel and discovered the temple. By an unusual coincidence, he possessed a copy of the Necronomicon, and immediately knew exactly what he had found._

_He nearly summoned the demon, but managed to stop it in time. He had an inkling of the truth - and subsequently murdered one of our higher ranking members, Jack Cochran._

_No action was taken upon Mr. Tipton in retaliation. The location of this hole is classified except for the knowledge of higher ranking leaders. This hole is extremely dangerous and must have an eye kept on the location at all times._

_We must be clear that the aim of our group(s) throughout history is power. Power is ultimately our religion, and Abaddon is the most powerful. Abaddon gives us energy and salvation from the slavery of misguided ideals such as "compassion" and "love," but he will not nor allow anyone to be spared simply for following him. Indeed, all followers of all sects in all places and all times play a somewhat dangerous game when dealing with him. And indeed, though it be our religion(s), it is very much a game. Abaddon gives us power only if we deserve it. Acting with intelligence is one of the most important virtues the follower(s) must do. Some holes are too powerful for us, Abaddon will not hesitate to let us be slaughtered for missteps, but to those of us who act wisely, we shall attain salvation. We should only strive to sacrifice ourselves for the glory of the Grand Appearing. This is why the mega-holes must be sealed at all times._

_The location of George Tipton's copy of the Necronomicon is at this point in time classified._'

Zack was beside himself to think that the home he had grown up in and remembered so fondly factored into all of this. That George Tipton had been messing around with this kind of stuff. That he and Cody had been living right on top of it! Zack wondered about the temple mentioned. For all of his and Cody's prowling about when they were kids, there had never been any indication of such a thing at all. And he and Cody knew the hotel like the back of their hand. Zack wondered, had it been sealed off?

But Zack saw there was more to this file. Apparently, there was also another full report included.

'_The Tipton Hotel incident is one of the most important incidences to occur in the history of our formal organization. The full truth of the instance, though, has been kept from all but myself. I alone only have the full truth. There is, indeed, so much more to this tale than what is known in the official profile distributed among us!_

_First and foremost, nobody knows but myself that the copy of the Necronomicon George possessed was no coincidence. Kettlepod, Kansas was such an unimpressive little town. But of the believers who had been planted to safeguard a minor hole? Who cared, indeed! Did they know the truth of why they were put there? Do any of the families we place, one per generation, at one of these holes understand what is truly attempting to be accomplished? Indeed, was it not the very order of destiny itself? Do they understand the breadth of what they are doing in service to Our Lord, the most pivotal and extravagant nature of it all?_

_There was a reason for planting them there, much greater than they probably ever suspected. And the man who came to their doorstep, the one bearing the name of the Grand Father, how amazing their reactions would have been if they could have perceived the full truth of the one that delivered their message!_

_Concerning Jamie. Jamie was crazy. I could see it in the kid's eyes from the moment I took notice of him. But he was a godsend. A kid after my own heart, had I been far more egotistical and downright stupid when I was that age. I allowed the Dark Lord to lead him where he wanted to go. He wanted power, and had no idea what he was even going to do with such power. That was his undoing. That was why he deserved to die. That was why, in my opinion, Abaddon inevitably took him._

_But George… yes, our Lord's will did not go unfulfilled. For this was the end of it all, to pass the book into George's hands, but not just to pass it into his hands, but to make him DESIRE the book and DESIRE to use it. I had forseen this all via the Prophet._

_George was led to the Boston location. He knew not that which truly led him. He broke ground, attempted to summon something out of it, and was successful._

_Oh, he tried to stop it. But it was all in vain. I watched this, just as if in that present time as much as I am in this present time right now, writing these words._

_His mistake had ramifications for decades to come. The entire city of Boston was plunged into fear. How many disappeared that fateful night? The demon absorbed them all and held their souls captive, sustaining itself on their energy. And more people in the area continued to disappear._

_But the quality of the souls was insufficient. The experiment proved what I had long suspected. That the Appearing could not be made to happen by the activating of only one or even all of the holes. No, the energies required are too extreme, too complex._

_Actually, this was more for my benefit than anything else. I had to smirk as I watched the experiment fail. I had indeed feared it might be successful. I had been prepared to step in if it had. _

_What was I trying to prove? That Abaddon was not all powerful, here, in this realm tainted by El. Abaddon needs us – and me – just as much as we need his power. _

_Power. That's what this is all about. The greatest force in the universe. The experiment proved that Abaddon could not dispose of me so easily should he desire it._

_The demon reigned in a large area of Boston for a very long period of time. The city was thrust into a panic. The United States government cordoned off an entire massive area of the city. It was known as the "Ghost Zone."_

Now Zack it was all Zack could do but look at the page in confusion. This had definitely not happened. What exactly was going on here?

_The demon needed more souls - special souls that carry that psychic link, the ability to, on occasion, connect between the realms. Very few have this gift. It is a remnant of the Old World, the world before the fall of Babel, the world before Adam._

_The hotel went through a dormant period for a long time before it took Timothy Pike in 1986. Timothy was just a child, but had a large enough amount of energy to give it a strong charge. This lasted for a while, until it depleted Timothy's soul of its energy and of all the new souls it had attained. Then it went dormant again, and the legend of the hotel started to become mythology. It was a wealthy nightclub chain owner named Zack Martin who purchased the hotel and tried to turn it into his latest themed club for a profit. Beforehand, though, Todd St. Mark, in a secret relationship with London Tipton, found out the family's secret, that they knew something of George Tipton's work to stop something accidentally unleashed in the hotel. He arrived at the hotel to stop it himself and inadvertently provided the demon with another charge. Then it got Zack. Then Maddie Fitzpatrick and Trevor Bates, two 'ghost hunters' who happened to be there at the time._

_It was the successor to George Tipton's attempt to undo what he had caused who finally put a stop to it. Zack's brother, Cody Martin._

Zack didn't think he could possibly take any more surprises. He really couldn't. His name. His brother's name. Maddie's name. London's name. In black and white. In an official report by Archimedes Demarion. The Tipton hotel. His brother. All connected to this conspiracy. Right here, surefire proof. Whether anything in this report was true or not. The growing anxiety in Zack's stomach was increasing.

_Cody Martin showed remarkable resourcefulness in getting the best of the demon. I must admit I was rather impressed myself. Cody managed to fully divine the sealing incantation. It was uttered – those lyrics from that ancient language of the Old World. The souls the demon had absorbed were set free and returned to their respective times. This caused a massive dimensional hiccup from all the souls being returned to different times which caused history to change. The souls that vanished that fated night at the grand ball did not vanish at all. Most lost their memories of what had happened in the future that now never was._

_George Tipton as well lost any such memories. In this new emerging timeline, he was not aware of how the hole was sealed, or what had brought about their unexpected salvation. But he did go into action rather fast and took the opportunity to murder our plant, Jack Cochran, acting CEO of Tipton Industries._

_Some viewed the experiment as a failure. Of course, from my point of view, it was all playing out as it should. But more than just an experiment, more than just for my own attempts to understand, it was also highly necessary as I viewed it through the Prophet, to reshape the timeline somewhat. All must be exactly as it should be, happening in a specific way, everything at specific times. That way the Glorious Appearing can take place without a hitch. I see hundreds of possibilities, hundreds of futures in which we fail. Only a few in which the Incantation is successful. It gives me glee to know I have the power that ensures it will happen and no one will be able to stop it. Indeed, you could say now the real game is afoot. _

_Cody's sealing of the hole marked the end of his role in this game. Truthfully, I could take revenge and use him as one of the Blashphemies if I so wanted to. Almost did, actually. But another opportunity presented itself. I think I have more than enough now. There is no necessity to complicate things further than they need to be. I could kill Cody, but he did exactly what I wanted him to. I have no particular malice toward him. Does that make you feel better, Zack? He almost reminds me of my own brother. Full of spirit! But Cody Martin is less stupid. My brother was stupid. He deserved what happened to him. But Abaddon will deal with Cody as he pleases during the Appearing._

_The other one will doubtless soon be poking around down here. He has his own special role to play. I dare not write it down here. Suspense to keep up and all, right, Zack? _

_The events have been set into motion. I see them even now, as I wander the tunnels between eras, tunnels that only those with the certain gifts have the power to traverse._

_Roads of angels, as it were._

_I have prepared a gauntlet of sorts for the Harbinger. The Harbinger tries to stop me, but I have already seen how the story ends! And it does not matter if he knows he is heading to his doom. His rage will not allow him to take any other path. I see all and know all. It's nice to have control._

_Report to myself, Archimedes Demarion_

Zack's grip on the file was so angry the part he was holding was crumpling in his hands. He closed the file and slammed it down in anger on the desk.

This was the proof he had needed. The unquestionable proof he had been trying to find. He didn't know what they had done to Maya, but he was pretty certain he was never going to see her again. He knew it. These twisted freaks – Archimedes – had been watching him for a long time. This had all been planned.

He thought back to John Tracey telling him that statistically there was nothing to fear from these people and nothing had really ever happened to anyone. Zack laughed.

He thought about showing this stuff to the authorities. But how could he? This stuff talked about demons, time travel, parallel universes, and all that kind of babble. How would he ever get taken seriously? But maybe he could prove that there had been an insane cult here involving him in some insane conspiracy. But then again, he had also been missing for ten years in this world. The more Zack sat and thought about it, the harder a time he was having making it work in his head.

The cult also seemed convinced, from the stuff he'd read, that he was an important figure in what they were trying to accomplish. Why him? What did he have that nobody else had? Why was he having to go through any of this?

Apparently, by what Archimedes wrote, there had once been another timeline. A past in which one of these demons got summoned. It had summoned right in the home he and Cody had grown up in!

Something had gone so wrong it had gotten noticed by entire world and created a panic. Something bad had happened to him. Cody had been the one who had come and set things right. But everything was righted, and Zack was still here, but apparently Zack had always been important to the cult. They still had big plans for him.

This was, of course, if he even believed the things he had read in front of him.

But could he fully doubt them? His head was all mixed up. He had witnessed events of the supernatural, for certain. He had even time traveled ten years into the future! Maybe in actuality he had hit his head at some point and was now in a deep coma. Maybe all of this was really happening in his mind.

It all sounded pretty insane when he thought about it. An alternate history? One that no longer existed? One in which Zack and Cody had not grown up inside the hotel, yet it somehow turned out to be a very important part of their destiny nonetheless?

Zack felt disconnected. His head felt heavy. It was all too much to take in. He felt for sure he must be dreaming. None of this could possibly be real. Maybe that stupid cave hadn't transported him to the future at all! Maybe he was now lying in a coma somewhere. But how could he prove that? He pinched himself hard and found out it hurt.

He started going through the files and desk again. He was looking for a report by Archimedes that might give any indication of what might have happened to his wife. He went through file after file. Much of it looked like very interesting reading he had no time to read. In the end, Zack could find no such report at all. Nothing giving off any indication whatsoever about what may have happened to his wife.

At the end of it all, Zack felt even more upset than he'd felt previously. He felt like he was stuck in a neverending nightmare. He just wanted it all to end.

But then Zack alighted on something. Something that sent him scrambling through the files one more time.

_What it...?_

Somehow, Zack had time traveled to this era. If time travel was real, could it not be possible to go back in time and save his wife? He wasn't sure. His thoughts might lead to a dead end, as far as he was certain. But he didn't really have any idea of what caused the luminescent wall he had encountered in that cave to be some sort of portal to this time. But he also knew that the portal had vanished when he had arrived here.

He came across a file he had skipped over the last few times. He pulled it out and realized this was what he was looking for.

The file was called 'Tunnels.'

Of course, it was written by Archimedes Demarion.

'_Time is not so much of a fixed state. Indeed, until the fall of Atlantis, Mu, and the other pre-Adamic civilizations, the concept of time itself was given no credence. It was barely even noticeable in any sense of the thought-magic created societies of the time._

_What we call time exists simultaneously. All is one and one is all. Time does not exist beyond the 'physical' realm. Time is a construct of the pocket universe that is our world for the progression of the final eternal state of things._

_But true progression lies inasmuch within the metaphysical as well as the physical. For in the metaphysical, all that ever will be already is, in a sense. In the physical, we still have not caught up with the grand order of the way things are in the rest of the universe._

_Concerning the tunnels: tunnels are wholly magic based. Not all magic disappeared after the fall of Atlantis, not all magic fully disappeared after the Babel incident. To be clearer, tunnels are rips through 'eternity' by which other simultaneous destinations upon the physical timestream can be reached. Time/space rips, to put them in strictly scientific terms._

_Since time is constantly flowing while everything yet exists simultaneously, this is of course why we can have such things in our world such as 'prophets' and 'prophecy.' All that ever will be has already been determined. But the timestream is also not without possibilities. Nothing is set in stone. History is always happening, and 'progression' is always taking place, but progression is not linear._

_It is indeed a mistake to think that time only occurs in one single progression along the physical. The timeline also can continue out of order. This can happen through actions in the past, present, and future, especially by those who traverse the tunnels. These tunnels are very rare and very few and very far in between. I am one of the very few throughout the entirety of history of all the billions of people who have ever lived who has had the blessing of traversing these tunnels. The first time was an accident. Many of the other tunnels I had to create. The "Proxy" and the Prophet made this easy for me. My time spent in the darkness in between periods of existence made it possible for me to understand how to do it._

_But as I was saying, time can occur out of order. For example, a person born in the future creates history by altering the past. Sometimes actions can delete a timestream and create another future entirely. But this is typically a deception. Oftentimes what the time traveler thinks he is doing to change the future usually causes it to happen. For example, the very act of going back in time to prevent the Kennedy Assassination or the 9/11 tragedy, for example, might actually result in the predestined history actually happening. (The former has actually happened through a rather humorous fluke. I witnessed it.)_

_Each tunnel is only good for one type of 'jump.' A tunnel that leads from 1967 to 2013, for example, will only lead back and forth from those times and nowhere else. Each tunnel is different, and there are very few. You are normally lucky if you can find one. I was able to create a few very specific ones for my purposes. You cannot choose which time you want to go to, or the specific location you want to go to._

_I should make another note: the destinations flow along with the physical timestream. That is, if there is a tunnel going to and from 1967 to 2013, and you live in 1967 and wait a full year before taking the tunnel, you would find that the destinations of the tunnel had changed to 1968 to 2014._

_It is a great mystery why they work in the manner that they do, but it makes my work so much easier._

_It is of some irritation that I cannot see all the way into all the possible futures to the end of history. I can only see up to a number of years ahead, till about 2071. I can only guess that as history is still being written, the possible branches coming from possible branches are more obscure to me. The End of Time has not occurred as far as I can see. But with the power I wield, the end will be written much sooner. The tunnels will not be needed after that. All time shall become one. Eternity shall become reality. A new world will be created. It will be that which has been fought for since the construct of flowing time began. It will be most glorious._

_And such is the nature of the tunnels and the secrets that lie therein._

_Report to myself, Archimedes Demarion_

So, that proved his last hope somewhat hopeless. If this report was true, then the odds of him finding himself in the exact past and location he would need to be to save Maya were less than slim. He'd have to find a very specific tunnel to take him to a very specific time. He wouldn't know where to look or if one existed.

He sighed to himself as he closed the file and set it on its desk. He was exhausted and mentally drained.

If the portal in the cave worked both ways, he knew he should have no problem getting back to his own time. At least this way, he'd have the ability to search the town thoroughly uninhibited and get the information he needed. He suspected they might not have expected him to come back and use one of their tunnels. But he then thought of the way Archimedes had addressed him in the Mothman file, though, and felt disturbed.

Was he perhaps wrong? Were they aware of his interloping, even now? Had Archimedes intended it? Was his discovering all this stuff part of the plan? Or were they really just trying to mess with his mind?

This could all be just a setup. Zack had no way of proving whether or not anything listed in the books and files he'd been reading was true.

Zack thought of Maddie.

_'Forget her.' _He found himself thinking to himself. This time period didn't exist, as far as he was concerned. When he returned to his own time, it wouldn't matter no more. He decided that first he was going to return to the cave, verify the tunnel was there and could be used, then he was going to come back, prowl through the houses, find something to store all of the items and information he had found. He just needed to get back to his own time for a few minutes. He needed to get back to sanity.

His head aching something terrible, he got up from the seat and exited this monument to the absolute surreal.

(7)

He realized when he stepped outside that he still hadn't checked out the police station yet. He wanted to at least see the underground cells, to see if they held any clues whether or not Maya had ever been there.

It was just a short walk down the road. The fog seemed to be denser upon the town. Fitting, Zack thought.

Zack wasn't scared of anything. He was beyond being scared by this point. Right now he felt mostly angry. He would have welcomed something advancing on him from the fog. Bashing something or someone's head in would have been perfect catharsis. But nothing appeared, much to his relief and disappointment.

It was a short walk, and he arrived right at the police station's door. He entered, taking in the familiar scenery once again. Nothing had changed from ten years ago. He headed toward what he assumed to be Ollie's desk. He poked around the drawers and pulled out a ring of keys, which was exactly what he had been looking for. He then headed toward the opening on left side and into a hallway. There were a few doors along the hallway, but Zack ignored them. Zack followed the hallway around to the back where he found a few jail cells. There was nothing fancy. Just three ordinary cells on the back wall, the kind you'd see in any small town station. Zack knew this wasn't what he was looking for, though. He took a glance around and saw a large metal hatch in the floor. There was a small hole on the side facing him. Zack saw a crowbar leaning against the wall. Zack grabbed the crowbar and used it to pull up the hatch. It came up fairly easily. A flight of stairs went down into darkness. Zack turned on his flashlight and slowly descended.

A strong musty smell wafted up. This area much bigger than the area just above. It was a fairly narrow space. Zack could see there were three cells on each wall, opposite each other.

The doors were completely metal. There was no opening to look in or out of them. There was a small slat with a lock by which Zack presumed was used to deliver food to the people in the cells. Zack played around with the keys on the ring and tried to open one of the doors. He finally found one that worked and opened the cell, turning the keys with a *click*.

The door opened with a creek. Zack poked around inside with his flashlight. It took Zack a few seconds to realize that the door and walls were completely padded. The floor was stone, and there was a hole in the floor that he presumed was the toilet. There was nothing resembling any sort of bed here.

It was apparent that for anyone doing 'penance' here, they were locked in total darkness in a soundproof room with nothing but a hole in the ground. Near total sensory deprivation. Zack could only imagine what it must have been like to be stuck in a place like this. He thought of the possibility of Maya having to be in a place like this. His anger only continued to grow.

He checked each cell. The key he was using worked for all the cells. He found nothing else inside but a repeat of what he'd found in the first. No indication of who might have been in here and when.

There was nothing else to find, and Zack felt he'd had his fill of this place for one eternity. He headed back up into the police station. He had only one more thing he needed from this town and he would be on his way.

(8)

Zack stole through the foggy town. He didn't encounter Maddie along the way, which was fine by him. He took her boat and headed back out to the island.

He got to the island, pulled the boat upon the beach, and quickly made his way back to the cave.

He suddenly realized he'd forgotten to bring any of the evidence with him! But he decided he didn't really want to go back at this point. He needed a break. He just needed to get back to reality for the time being. He could come back if he needed to. Just no more for a bit.

He maneuvered quickly through the cave and came into the open area. He headed up to where he had remembered the shining part of the wall being. He touched the wall. Nothing.

Perhaps he was in the wrong spot. He shined his flashlight all around. He could see none of the familiar shining luminescence whatsoever. Panic welling up in his body, he continued to feel all around the area.

Extreme agitation coursed through his body as his feeling around became more frantic. But nothing happened. The portal, whatever it was, was no longer where he was supposed to be. Zack yelled and slammed his fist on the wall and tried to get ahold of himself. He felt a migraine coming on as he tried to get his mind straight and come to acceptance of the terrible new situation at hand.

He was stranded here.


	15. Kindred Spirits

**Dark Fall II**

**Part II - Conspiracy**

**Chapter 14: Kindred Spirits**

Zack reluctantly returned to town since he had no other choice. He found Maddie exactly where they had agreed to meet. She was going over some files when he walked into the room.

She looked up as he entered. "Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No. There's nothing here. I don't think there's anything to be found. Apparently, when they packed up they took everything important with them."

She nodded. "I see."

She bought his deception without a questioning, but the distressed look on his face didn't get by her.

"Are you okay? You don't look very well." she asked him.

"Migraine. Lots of stress, I guess. I think I'm coming down with a cold."

"Would you like some aspirin?"

"It would help."

She pulled some out of her bag and gave him a couple of pills and a bottle of water and he swallowed them.

"Have you figured out what you're going to do next? Are you going to go back? To the past, I mean."

"Well, I went back and searched the cave again..."

"I know. I heard the boat."

"Whatever it was that brought me here is no longer there. I checked very carefully. It seems like I'm stranded."

"So you can't get back at all?"

"I don't know." he said, rubbing his head. "I'm going to have to figure something out. The next place I'm headed is Cody's. He still lives in the same place, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm certain if there's a way to get back, he'll help me find it."

"He'll be relieved to see you. You might also want to call your mom and dad."

"I'm going to hold off on doing that. After all, I'm not planning on staying in this time period if I can help it. There's got to be a way back. I just have to figure out what it is."

She was silent. She looked down at the floor. Zack could see there was something clearly on her mind.

"What's up? You seem like something's bothering you." he asked her.

"If you go back," she started. "Then this future won't exist anymore, will it? The last ten years… they will all disappear, won't they?"

He thought about it. "I would presume that would be the case. I think the only thing that would change would be that my disappearance would never have happened. I would expect everything else would be the same. But for all I know, maybe there is no way back. Maybe I'm stuck here and I'll just have to deal with it."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but was holding back.

"So, what are you planning on doing from this point?" he asked her.

"Well, what happened with you convinces me that there's definitely more to this place than meets the eye. Time travel, the supernatural..."

"I'd rather you not stay here. This is not a place to be poking around in." he butted in.

She looked slightly offended. "I don't see why. You said yourself you found nothing. I can take care of myself just fine."

"Maybe I'm lying." he said, looking at her with a sharp gaze. He was sort of rescinding the fib. But he really didn't want her here, at all costs.

"So you DID find something." she said.

"I'm pretty convinced this place is far more dangerous than you could imagine. It's better that I don't go into any detail. If I'm stuck here, and time has to continue on like this, I'd rather you not get dragged into something you'd rather not be involved in. This town, the weirdness of it all, it's not confined to just this particular town. The strange religion that was practiced here is not just confined to Fetch Rock. This particular group is very large and organized and has more power and resources than we can imagine."

She looked like she wanted to question further, but was stunned and startled by what he'd just said and the seriousness of the look he'd given while saying it.

"What about Maya?" she asked. "Did you find out anything about what might have happened to her?"

"No." he said. "But I'm pretty certain by this point that I won't be finding Maya. Ever."

He held his head in his hand. He was trying to will himself to keep back the tears.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded his head.

"There's no chance. I don't know what happened to her for sure, but I believe what I found is a pretty good indicator the chances are slim I'll ever find her safe and sound."

"I'm sorry." she said.

"I still want to have hope." he said. "I'll probably keep holding onto just a tiny sliver until the end. But I'm losing reasons to continue hoping."

There was silence between them for a bit. Finally, Zack said: "You really shouldn't stay here in this town. You must trust me on this. Don't go poking around any further. Go back to living your life and forget this place ever existed."

"Is there any way I can…?" she started to say.

"Promise me!" He said, interrupting her and taking her hand into his and looking her dead straight in the eyes. "I don't want to part ways until you promise me!"

She looked at him and then nodded after a few seconds. "Ok."

He let go of her hand. She asked:

"D-do you think we should leave now?"

Zack looked at his watch. It was 6:30.

"No. I think we'll be fine to stay tonight. I don't think we want to be driving through that forest in the dark."

Zack rubbed his head. The pounding felt like it was getting worse.

"Do you need some more aspirin?"

"It's fine. I think I'll manage."

He was on the verge of breaking down again. He was feeling the feelings of loss, of grief, of horror over the things he'd found in this town.

He was trying to hold back the tears.

"You really don't have to hold it in on account of me." Maddie said, getting up and pulling him into a hug.

"I'll be fine. I just have to deal with this." he said.

She cradled his head with her hand. "Don't deal with it alone. It's never good to deal with something like this alone." She wouldn't let him go. He was unable to hold back. He started to let loose. She held onto him as he cried into her shoulder for what seemed to him like an endless period of time. As it began to wear off, she led him to the bed and sat next to him, rubbing his back.

"You have no idea what it feels like." he said after a period of silence. "You just have no idea. It's the worst pain in the world. I feel like I want to die, but I have no will to take my own life. I know better than that. I'm simply trapped here. Not just in the future, I mean, but in my life. I have to deal with this pain day in and day out. I try to go about my life. I try to pull myself back together and focus solely on my business, but everything I once loved about the world and life just seems so bleak and meaningless now."

She continued to rub his back.

"I do have an idea of what you feel like." she said. "In fact, I'm afraid I know exactly how you feel."

Now he looked at her, surprised, not sure he wanted to hear what was coming next.

"It was last year, on July 16th. My husband Mark left our house to go down to the corner store to pick up some groceries. He was going to come right back. It was Friday, which meant it was our movie night. He was just going to get a few things. He never returned. An eighteen wheeler barreling through a red light hit him while he was crossing the street. The driver had been drinking. Mark was dead on impact. The truck driver got 20 years for manslaughter while driving under the influence. But there's no amount of justice that will ever bring my husband back."

"Oh, my God. I'm so sorry." Zack said, horrified at what she'd just told him and truly feeling for her.

"So, we are both now without our loved ones." she concluded.

Zack pulled her into a hug.

"I guess that's why I came back to this town." she said against his shoulder. "I've been trying to recover by throwing myself into my work for the last year. I returned to my hobby of ghost hunting. I guess I was thinking of you and I came back to this town. I just wanted something to engage myself in, take my mind off it all..."

They just sat there, holding each other, in silence for a while. Finally, Zack said:

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to return to my own time, or if I'm stranded here. But I assure you, if I can get back to my own time, I will make sure this never happened."

"I always considered you to be one of my best friends." she said.

Zack pulled back and looked at her, surprised.

"Really? But I haven't hardly seen you much since Cody and I left the Tipton for Seven Seas High. Do you mean back at the Tipton hotel?"

"Yes. You were three years younger than me, but you always listened. You listened no matter what. You were always there for me."

That surprised him. Quite a bit, actually. He'd been pining for her so much back in those days, and he'd been completely convinced she'd seen him as almost nothing.

"I always thought you looked at me as just some annoying kid that you looked down upon. Just a stupid little kid with a silly little crush that you would never reciprocate."

The memories of those days were now flashing before his eyes. Yes, indeed, what memories those had been.

Back in those days, Zack had had a crush on her since the moment he'd first laid eyes on her when Zack and Cody first moved into the Tipton with their mother, so many years ago.

Zack had been interested in her before his full on hormones had hit him and turned him into the player he would go on to become as a teen. And truly, for the entirety of the three years they called the Tipton their own, no matter how many girls came through Zack's life (and there had been a lot), she had always been the one he'd carried a special torch for. It was hard to explain, really. He still remembered the first day he ever saw her. It was almost as if she was familiar to him and there was something strong that drew him to her. It was just a type of "knowing" that there was something very special about her to him.

One particular memory stood out in his mind, back from when he'd been age 12. For Maddie's high school prom had been coming up. Maddie had had a crush on a guy that, turned out, was three years older than her. Maddie had managed to convince Moseby to allow the prom to be booked at the hotel. She'd been specifically hoping to impress the guy she had a crush on. Zack had overheard her and his mom talking about her crush on some guy she wasn't sure things would work out with because of a three year age difference. Zack, who had been hitting on her incessantly since he'd first laid eyes on her, had interpreted that three year age difference to be referring to himself.

Maddie's potential dream prom had gone sour that evening. The band that was supposed to have been booked didn't show up. The whole thing had turned out to be the definition of lame.

It had been Zack who saved the day. An entire circus group had been staying in the hotel, and Zack had persuaded them to do him a 'huge favor.' With a bunch of professional circus performers taking over the party, the party had turned into something far more extravagant than Maddie could have dreamed possible.

Of course, it was right after that that he figured out it hadn't been him she had been pining for after all. His perfect night had been crushed. Meanwhile, hers was in the process of being crushed. The guy she was after turned out to have a college girlfriend. What capped it off was the condescending way he treated her, exactly as he viewed her: just a "kid" to him.

Meanwhile, Zack had been sulking at a table, pretty upset. Maddie had found him and thanked him for what he had done.

They were both without dates on what was supposed to have been the perfect night of their lives. She ended up agreeing to dance with him.

He remembered those words he had spoken to her then:

"I'll dance with you at your prom if you dance with me at mine."

She'd consented! A very surprised Zack had actually gotten his wish.

Time went on. She still saw him as a kid after that, no matter what he said or did. She had told him that night that he was going to grow up to make a fine man who any girl would be lucky to date him. But she'd told him he needed someone his own age, and so did she.

Well, he'd never given up hope. Not even when he'd been living on the S.S. Tipton, dating nearly every single girl on the ship.

He'd turned into a player, but at this very moment, he found himself wondering something: Was the reason that he hadn't been able to stay committed back then perhaps simply because the one he'd truly carried a torch for wouldn't ever be his? He felt almost certain if he'd had Maddie back then he wouldn't have even looked at any other girl, ever.

There was one time when she'd come on board the ship to visit. Funny story, actually. They'd docked at a small European country named Lichenstein. To Zack's great aggravation at some point on the tour an official had approached Maddie and told her that the prince of the nation had seen her and taken special interest in her and had asked if she would like to be his date.

Of course, the answer to that had been a resounding yes.

The funny (or not-so-funny, depending on how you looked at it) part was that the prince turned out to be 9 years old. It had been one of the most embarrassing nights in Maddie's life. But what had made it worse was that she'd accidentally performed a local custom which, in that nation, caused her to become engaged to the prince by royal law! So, by this point, she was going to be trapped in a foreign country, literally raising her husband!

Cody's excellent and meticulous research, however, had found a loophole in this law. If someone jousted the prince for the betrothed's heart and won, she wouldn't have to marry him.

Zack hadn't been sure he could win against a kid who'd undoubtedly had professional training, but the absurdity of the whole situation won out when the "jousting horses" turned out to be toy horse heads attached to bouncy balls. The "lances" had been pool tubes.

Zack had thought it was in the bag, but the little brat turned out to be actually _very_ good at this game. Zack had been losing. Maddie had come up with a plan. She'd grabbed him and kissed him full on the lips.

Less than five minutes later, the prince had surrendered, in absolute terror.

Zack had won. Of course, it was to be short lived. Maddie wasn't able stay on the ship indefinitely, after all. Zack had always wondered what might have happened if things had turned out a different way and she had stayed on the ship.

If Maya had never come onto the ship, would he have eventually graduated and, once he'd gotten off the boat, eventually tracked Maddie down and found her? Would he have finally gotten his dream to come true? Would it have been him and _Maddie_ who'd instead lived happily ever after until the cult targeted _her_ instead? Would he have now been grieving over her like he had been for Maya?

But Maya had come into his life, and thoughts of Maddie had eventually slipped away like sand blowing into the wind. For all those years he'd been absolutely certain Maddie was "the one." Then Maya had come into his life and had changed all that. By some grand mystery of the universe that would never be explained, Zack instantly forgot all about Maddie and Maya had suddenly become "the one."

All these thoughts, these memories, were running though his head right now in the span of several seconds as he and Maddie sat together.

"I always appreciated you as a friend, Zack." she responded to his question.

He smiled. "I'd always hoped you appreciated me as more than a friend. Silly thing, that stupid little childhood crush was."

She pulled back.

"But it was cute. To tell you the truth, there were a few times when I wondered whether or not we'd be in each other's lives long enough for you to grow up." she said. "I always wondered if it was possible that something might happen then."

"You thought of these things?" he said, very surprised. "When?"

"Just off and on. Mainly the last year or so before you and Cody left."

Young Zack would have been floating on cloud 9 if he'd known these things she was telling him right now.

"Apparently it was not to be." he said. "Life took us on completely different paths."

"And yet here we are, both of us having lost our loved ones, all alone once again... but here in the same place together."

He nodded as he looked into her eyes.

He was thinking it. He was sure she was thinking it too. But he wasn't sure what he should be thinking about it in this very moment.

Before he realized what he even was doing, their lips met. This was their second kiss ever. They both sank into it, slowly, but with a certain type of passion to it.

There was something in the back of Zack's mind that was trying to tell him that this felt wrong. But at the same time it felt kind of right.

Ah, he was so confused right now.

Her hands wrapped around him and she pulled him in deeper.

After a minute of kissing nonstop, she pulled away from him.

"Do you want to make love to me?" she whispered breathily.

Zack was feeling internally conflicted.

Did he want to?

He had an image of his younger self in his mind right now jumping up and down in the air, cheering him on.

He also had another image of his slightly older self, the self he'd been when Maya had first come in his life. This version of himself was giving himself a "what the heck are you doing?" kind of look.

But the wrecking ball came when he looked into her face, looked at the much older woman in front of him.

She wasn't just three years older than him anymore. She was 13 years older at this point.

What _was _he doing? This was not his own time period. Maybe if this had been taking place in 2019 and he was one hundred percent certain he would never see Maya again, he _might _give into it. Heck, he most likely definitely would have. But this was 2029. He did not belong here. He wasn't even sure to what extent he was stranded, assuming he was really stranded at all. If he wasn't, then it would mean history would change the moment he set foot back into 2019. Anything that happened here, right now, in this version of the timeline, would mean nothing. It would cease to exist, and the experience would be in his memory only, a memory that had happened yet forevermore never was.

Of course, it was true that there was another part of him, the part more of lust than of rational thought that was encouraging him to go ahead with it. After all, he'd get to fulfill a fantasy he'd had since he'd been a teen with potentially no strings attached. No harm, no foul, and it would never be remembered.

But wouldn't that be taking advantage of her? They were both right now undergoing fragile periods of their lives. Maybe if they'd both had a significant time to recover and think and to conduct this more rationally, then perhaps he could have justified it.

But as it stood right now...

"I don't think we should." he said.

He could see a disappointed look in her eye.

"We're both not thinking clearly right now. We've both recently lost people we cared about very much. I... I don't even belong in this time. If Cody is able to help me get back, then anything we do here tonight won't amount to anything at all. I don't want to take advantage of you. I care about you too much for that."

A smile slowly spread across her face. She rubbed his head with her hand.

"You turned out to be a good person, Zack. Maya was very lucky to have you."

They hugged each other one more time before pulling away. Zack could see in his mind's eye that young Zack was looking a little disappointed. But inwardly, Zack felt good about the choice he'd made. He knew he had done the right thing.

He also felt strange. He really couldn't describe it. It was like something that had once been but also at the same time never had been was fully fading away. It felt strangely as if a thread, a possibility, had been completely wiped out of existence. It was as if it had been destiny in another place and another time, but not in this reality that was being completely rewritten. Zack felt he was probably just imagining it from the entire wealth of emotions he was feeling all at once. But the feeling lingered for the span of several minutes just the same.

Zack and Maddie talked a lot that night. They got to catch up in a way they had never gotten to since Zack had parted for Seven Seas High.

Zack felt somewhat soothed in his soul at this time. He was glad they could be friends like this again. He felt sad that what was happening right now probably would not remain. If Cody was successful in helping him, this conversation, this restored friendship would never take place.

Eventually it got dark out. Zack retreated to another room of his own. They both slept the night away, peacefully.


	16. Reunion

**Dark Fall 2**

**Part II - Conspiracy**

**Chapter 15: Reunited**

(1)

Nothing happened to them that night as they slept. Zack woke up early in the morning whole and well. He could hear the shower going in the room next door which meant Maddie was up and just fine too.

No one had come for them while they'd slept. Perhaps they were truly alone in this place. For the time being.

While Maddie got ready for the day, Zack simply slipped his clothes on. He was not going to bother to take a shower.

He spent some time downstairs poking around in the personal rooms that had belonged to Mary and Jerry. It was true, everything was set up just as if it had never been left.

He didn't find what he was looking for. No surprise.

He wrote a quick note for Maddie and left it by her door. He headed out to Archimedes' place. He knew that what he was looking for was a stretch, but Archimedes' closet in his bedroom turned out to have exactly what he was looking for.

Zack was banking on the fact Archimedes traveled far more often than the townspeople who were well unlikely to ever see anything out of their closed community for the entirety of their lives.

Zack couldn't imagine living in one place one's entire life, never seeing anything of the outside world, being indoctrinated with a bunch of total twisted bullcrap and being fully convinced it was the only truth.

What Zack found in Archimedes' house were several well large sized travel bags. Zack selected a really big gray travel bag and also found, for his convenience, a black travel case with an extendable handle that rolled on wheels.

He then headed back to the temple and church respectively. In the black case he placed all the files. The gray one contained the 'Bible' from the church along with the satanic book.

Zack felt himself a type of Santa Claus as he went on this scavenger hunt. Except it was Christmas for himself, and it was a Christmas he would have preferred had never come at all.

Maddie gave him a look and a lot of questions when he got back, especially about the bags. She very much wanted to see what he had gone around town collecting.

Perhaps it was the look in his eyes, though, the same from the previous night when he was warning her about the town that made it easier for him to convince her that it was better not knowing. She looked a little frustrated, nevertheless.

They had a good, long drive back to civilization while they talked some more.

It was a bit weird when they stopped back at the town Zack had stopped in on his way back in his own time. It had grown and changed considerably. More proof that he was definitely not in Kansas anymore, as the popular expression went.

Their trip took them to Boston where they took the Limo Liner up to New York where they officially parted ways.

They gave each other a hug, and Zack wanted to say: "Call me anytime."

But once again, it seemed weird due to the fact that this was not his own time period.

(2)

Maddie had said Cody still lived in the same house. Parked outside with his rental car, Zack staked out the area for a few minutes. There were three kids, two teenagers, playing in the yard. The two that were clearly twins looked around 15, and the other appeared to be around 9 or 10.

After a while, their mother came out to call them in for dinner. Like with Maddie, it was very weird seeing Bailey ten years older than just a short while ago when he'd been staying at their place.

The kids went inside and she shut the door. Zack got out of his car which was parked on the side of the curb just across from their house and brought his bags with him.

He noted as he looked around the area the house had the look of having been remodeled a few times. From the look of the car Cody was presently driving, he was very obviously doing pretty well.

Zack stepped up to the door and used the doorbell and the knocker simultaneously.

After a few seconds, he heard steady footsteps coming to the door.

The door opened to reveal his much older looking brother, now outfitted with a pair of glasses, who paled immediately at the sight of seeing him.

"ZACK!" He exclaimed.

Zack smiled weakly at him.

"Long time no see?"

Cody was looking at him as if he were seeing a ghost.

"W... where the hell have you been?! What HAPPENED to you? We looked everywhere for you!"

"It's a LONG story. And I've got a lot to show you." Zack said.

Cody was reaching out towards Zack's face, looking perplexed.

"I know I can't be right, but you look like you haven't aged a day, Zack!"

"I haven't. That's what I'm here to talk about."

"Cody, honey, could you do me a favor an..."

Bailey walked around the corner and upon seeing Zack, stopped still. She looked like she might go into a dead faint.

Zack smiled and gave her a wave of the hand.

(3)

"Zack... I don't know what to say about all of this!"

"How do you think I felt when I stumbled upon it?"

Cody was skimming through the files, picking up one after the other and looking through them quickly, stopping only on certain points that particularly caught his interest.

"I guess your time travel story really does has validity. That's the only way to explain your disappearance and why you haven't aged a day. But all of this at once is a lot to buy."

"Yeah, but from my point of view, when you've actually encountered the supernatural and been having strange, coincidental dreams, _and_ traveled through time, it sure starts to make it possible to accept everything and anything." Zack countered.

"But our old home being a center focal point for all of this? Alternate timeline? ME changing history?"

"Several weeks ago, in my time period, at least, you were saying that you randomly found yourself in the Tipton hotel lobby without a shirt and you couldn't explain how you got there or why. You'd also been having those weird dreams with you and London..."

Cody looked at him. "So you think that's the explanation?"

"That you changed history and suddenly the new timeline caught up with the old and erased it? Yeah, sure, I don't see why not."

"But you're actually asking me to consider a horrifying possibility with that theory."

"What's that?"

"That I found London's personality attractive enough to have a make-out session with her."

Zack laughed.

"Well, I always wondered if something might happen with you two back when you were running her webshow and she was making you wear all those dresses and make-up..."

Cody gave him a glare.

"But Zack... this is all... just..."

"Mindblowing? Too much to fathom? Surreal? I know."

Cody adjusted his glasses.

"Just going through all this stuff would take weeks, maybe even months!"

"I need to get back to my own time and put a stop to all of this. Archimedes wrote that there are multiple tunnels. I believe there is still one in that cave. I just don't know how to harness it! I'm not even sure why it let me come here..."

"It's all a big if, though." Cody said. "And if you can't get back, there is still this cult to contend with. This is some pretty serious stuff."

"I still wonder how high this thing goes, though." Zack responded. "I still wonder just what we're really up against. But there's something else I've been thinking of too, lately. I wonder if I could possibly find a tunnel leading back just a little further in the past, to where I could find out what happened to Maya and perhaps stop it."

"Speaking as someone who's excelled in school with math and probabilities," Cody said. "I'd say your chances of finding such a tunnel are next to nothing." He saw the look on Zack's face. "I'm sorry. I'm just being honest with you. Especially if – as this file claims – Archimedes is personally responsible for a majority of the tunnels. And without knowing how to even use the tunnels, there's no telling if you'll ever be able to get back at all."

"But I can't just give up!" Zack said.

"No, I wouldn't expect you to." Cody said. "I plan to keep doing what I can, too. I've been doing so for the last ten years."

"I'm sorry." Zack said.

"No, I'm glad to see you're okay, that's all. I'm glad you're alive and well after all and not… well, you know."

"How's mom and dad?" Zack brought himself to ask.

Cody got a look on his face.

"Mom was torn apart when you vanished. So was dad. We pulled out all the stops to search for you, as much as we could. Lenny was very helpful to us. But I was the only one who had an inkling as to what might have possibly really happened. Mom had a hunch, too. She took me aside one time and asked me if there was anything I wasn't telling her. I kept a stiff upper lip. I could see she became even more upset when she realized I was definitely holding back on her. She asked if it had something to do with Maya's disappearance. She had a hunch. Bailey and Maddie are the only ones besides me who have an idea of the fuller story."

"I feel bad..." Zack said. "That I had to put everyone through all that pain. All the more reason I need to find a way to get back."

"Do you want to call mom and talk to her?"

"As much as I want to, I want to ensure for certain that I absolutely can't get back to my own time first. If I can, then I don't think there's a whole lot of point..."

Cody nodded his head, a far off look in his eyes.

"Oh," Cody said. He reached over to his desk and handed Zack a disc. Zack could see that it was the same one that he had found in Archimedes' house back in Fetch Rock.

"I've tried for ten years to crack this disc. I've tried to create my own OS, done everything I could. This whole computer setup in my office? All of that was my attempts to crack the disc."

Indeed, Cody's office was wall to wall in computers, all connected to each other, wires going every which way.

"But whenever I would feel I was getting the slightest bit closer, I would encounter more difficulties and keep getting set back. But you remember what I said about the disc searching for programs that don't exist? With what you just went through, and what Archimedes wrote about tunnels and time travel, I'm absolutely certain now that he got this disc from the distant future!"

Zack slowly nodded. Made perfect sense.

"I don't doubt that." he said.

"Point is," Cody said. "No matter how hard I try, I'm beginning to think I could never crack it. Not in this lifetime. It probably doesn't even need to be cracked for all I know, just inserted in your average, ordinary computer from the time period it comes from. It simply needs to be run on the operating system it was designed for in the time period it was created in."

"If it's even possible figure out how to get there."

"Which is why I think you should hold onto the disc again. Just in case you actually figure out how to use the tunnels and manage to get to the place Archimedes got it from. I know it's incredibly unlikely, but..."

"I think it's likely." Zack said. "'Cause I'm gonna keep searching until I find out a way!"

"If only you had any leads." Cody said.

"I have a start of one, at least." Zack said. "Our home. The Tipton Hotel."

Cody nodded, understanding where Zack's logic was coming from.

"We poked around every nook and cranny in that hotel when we were kids. Do you think it's possible there's something we missed? Seems hard to believe that the stuff talked about here – a temple underneath the hotel – could actually be there."

"I don't know." Zack said. "I just have nowhere else to go for right now. It seems the best logical place to start my search."

"I wonder if Mr. Tipton sealed it away." Cody mused.

"It's possible. And I intend to take a closer look."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Cody asked.

Zack looked at him.

"It might be best for me to go alone. After all, I'm still looking for a way to get home. When I find it, I'm taking it. This time period might not even exist at all. I can't exactly take you with me."

Cody looked down.

"It's a strange feeling..." Cody said. "To think it's possible that the last ten years of my life might completely fade out of existence soon and have never been. Do you have any idea what that feels like? Added on top of all of this?"

"It wouldn't be the first time it's happened, it seems." Zack said. "Heck, since apparently time travel does really exist, who's to say we haven't lived multiple lifetimes already that we aren't aware once existed? If it has, then we'd never know it."

Cody nodded.

"Just be careful." he said to Zack. "Truthfully, I do hope you make it back and everything turns out okay."

"Yeah." Zack said.

"This dual religion of the town particularly intrigues me." Cody said.

"It only further confirms what I believed before that the townspeople are completely innocent." Zack said. "Always have been. It's only the higher ups that are responsible for anything. Archimedes has been playing everyone like pawns for some higher goal from the beginning. I hope I get to see him again so I can punch him in the face."

"It's interesting to me that you could just find this stuff and walk out with it with no problem at all, that it wasn't better hidden or protected. It really does make me wonder if all this stuff is real or if some of it's just Archimedes writing bullshit to screw with you, having left it in the town knowing you would come along and find it."

"So you think some of it's fake?"

"I really don't know. There's a lot that doesn't seem to make sense."

"Yeah, well, it also doesn't make sense that we couldn't find the cave or see the writing in the book when I brought you. When I returned by myself, the writing reappeared and the cave was right where we'd been looking. And Maddie said supernatural enthusiasts have been crawling over the town for years and found nothing. I just happened to find it fairly easily while looking around on my own. Maybe it's something about me. Maybe it's because I'm this 'Harbinger' or whatever the cult calls it. Maybe it's some special 'ability' or 'power' or something only I possess that allows me to find this stuff."

"Interesting theory." Cody mused, looking deep in thought over the subject. "I really don't know what to make of it."

"I really don't know what to think anymore, either." Zack said, throwing his hands up and pacing. "I'm grasping for straws here. I'm tired of all this. I just want for things to get back to the way they were and be done with all this stuff."

"Well, I will say this, even if this time period is not going to be around much longer, I'll keep going through this stuff and doing the best I can to help." Cody said.

"I really appreciate it, bro. And again, I'm very sorry for what I've put everyone through."

"There's no need to apologize for what you couldn't help." Cody said to him.

"I still feel bad."

"We'll get through this. We always do." Cody said.

"I hope so." Zack wasn't feeling inwardly as optimistic.

Zack and Cody talked some more. Zack stayed with Cody and Bailey for the night. He then decided not to return to Boston for the moment, but instead bought himself a ticket and headed back to L.A.


	17. Return To The Tipton Hotel Pt I

**Dark Fall 2**

**Part II – Conspiracy**

**Chapter 16: Return to the Tipton Hotel Pt. 1**

_Author's Notes: _

_This was originally supposed to be part of a much longer chapter, but I ended up splitting it into two separate chapters, because I realized that, in addition to being as busy as I have been, it would have taken me much longer to edit the entire thing and put it out, and I really didn't want to have to make my readers wait several more days for an update, and so I split it up in order to get an update out in a more reasonable amount of time._

_I'm very grateful for all the positive reviews so far. This has turned out to be one of the more challenging stories I've ever written. (But, hey, if I don't challenge myself as a writer, how will I ever grow?) It's not completely easy to write a story with as complex of a plot as this one that's also a sequel and release it chapter by chapter. It occurs to me at this point that I probably would have been best off finishing the entire story first and then editing it before releasing it, but at the same time, I took so long before actually deciding to go ahead with the sequel, I didn't want to make anyone interested in it wait any longer. I'm certainly not going to switch up the way I'm releasing it at this point. It wouldn't be fair to my readers. I will continue to release it chapter by chapter and work through the challenge._

_I'm particularly trying very hard to keep the story consistent and not contradict itself at any point. This can be a challenge with the natural human tendency of forgetfulness, particularly when it comes to remembering everything I've written before at all times. I'm constantly going back to the originally story and certain chapters in this one and trying very hard to stay consistent and not accidentally contradict myself. You guys have been paying really good attention to the story thus far, so I sincerely hope that if any of my readers do catch some unfortunate unresolved plot 'hole' somewhere in the story, you guys won't hold it against me too much. I'm trying very hard not to do that._

_I do know very well exactly where I'm going with this particular story. I have a rather large concept document/outline with lots of notes and detailed explanations for what's actually going on which I'm slowly revealing in the story. So I'm definitely not writing blind nor making it up as I go along, which would turn out to be an utter disaster. _

_Finally, as for the question of whether or not Zack actually finds Maya and/or whether or not she's okay, I would love to tell you all, but that would be a spoiler. You'll just have to wait for the chapter where he finds out what really happened to her. Gomen nasai._

(1)

It was a very weird feeling for Zack as he walked up Sunset Boulevard and 'Club Zack' came into view.

He'd been here just a short while ago in another time. Everything looked the same yet completely different. The Club looked different. It looked bigger.

Indeed, as he stepped inside, he could see that everything had been largely renovated. Nothing too major, but he could see notable changes in each of the sections. The Star Wars area now had a new attachment that was a theatre, for example. And there were several entirely new sections paying homage to what Zack guessed was stuff that had become popular over the last decade.

Zack took a leisurely walk around the club, noting the changes. Everything seemed to be doing okay, but it was missing something. It was lacking his personal touch. He could see it everywhere. Sure, Lenny must have been doing the best he could with him gone, but it didn't have the same spark it once had.

He was in the lobby again and noticed a cardboard cut-out sign. His heart caught in his throat a bit. It was a picture of the two owners of the franchise. Before, the last time Zack had been here, it had been of him and Lenny. Now, it was of Lenny and some guy Zack did not recognize, a Richard Lenten.

Well, what had he expected? For Lenny to run the whole franchise by himself?

But still! He had built this business with his own two hands! And now he was effectively cut out of it.

Zack sighed and headed for the back where he knew the offices were. He didn't even knock, he just opened Lenny's door and helped himself in.

Lenny was involved in some paperwork while on the phone, and, as Zack had guessed, when he turned to look at the unexpected intrusion, he turned completely white and shell-shocked.

"Hey, uh... something's suddenly come up that demands my urgent attention… I need to call you back... sorry... no... okay… yes… really need to go! Yeah… call you back this evening… okay… Bye!"

And with that he hung up the phone. Slowly, he stood up from his desk as if he could not believe what he was seeing. He had aged since Zack had last seen him. Same Lenny, but Zack had to hold back a chuckle at the fact that he was now balding.

"ZACK?!" he said incredulously in his high pitched voice. "Where the HELL have you been?"

He walked forth hands outstretched and started touching Zack's face as if he felt he might be checking to see whether Zack was a ghost or not.

Zack grabbed Lenny's hand.

"It's me, Lenny."

Lenny looked at him real closely. He was only inches away from Zack's face. Zack slowly backed up, not liking having his comfort zone so violated. But it was typical of Lenny.

"Where have you _been_? Do you know what we went through to track you down?" he said in the high-pitched, squeaky voice he was known to get when he got excited.

"First of all, I apologize for that. I can't tell you what happened, but trust me when I say it couldn't be helped." Zack said.

"Your mom and brother and everyone were so worried about you!"

"Yes, I know."

"You don't look like you've aged a day!"

"Listen, Lenny, I really can't give you and explanation or tell you all that's happened, but I'm here because I need you to do something very important for me."

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"I need you to use some of our 'special connections.' I need to get a fake ID made." Zack said, ignoring the question.

"You ARE in some kind of trouble!" Lenny exclaimed, eying Zack's face like it might run off and disappear at any moment.

"I'm not in any danger at this present moment."

"Does this have something to do with Maya?"

"I really can't go into detail about that, Lenny."

"You've gotten yourself into something deep, haven't you! Oh, man! I didn't believe Mark at first when he was going on about government agents stalking you and what-not, but then you suddenly disappeared, and I started to think that maybe he was onto something!"

"Listen, Lenny, I've always been level with you and told you everything that's going on, but this is one of those times I really can't. I can tell you that there IS something going on, and yes, I'm in a sort of a situation, but I can't talk about it, and I really need those fake papers."

Lenny stared at Zack's face a bit more, then quickly went behind his desk and lifted up the phone.

"Enough said. I'll get it taken care of right away. I... um..." he stopped, seeming to realize something.

"Are... are you coming back? To The Club? 'Cause, um... I hope you don't mind... I have a new business partner now... I really couldn't do it all by myself... but you are still technically the co-owner, and, umm..."

Zack held his hand up.

"One day at a time, Lenny. I'm really not concerned about the club at the present moment."

"Okay. Understood." a still white Lenny said as he lifted the receiver to his ear and started shakily dialing.

(2)

It was a short ordeal for Zack to get the fake papers he would need. He wasted no time buying a plane ticket and flying out to Boston. His next stop would be the Tipton hotel.

He hadn't been to the Tipton at all, really, since he'd been a kid. He had to stop for a moment when he entered and let all the memories wash over him.

Many things still looked the same, but it obviously had been changed around considerably in all the years he hadn't been here. It was that strange sense of nostalgia mixed with the newness and remodeling done over the passage of time.

He stood for a minute and took it all in. Everything was still in the same place he remembered, just with a slightly different look to it all.

But he couldn't linger around and dwell on his memories too much. He forced himself to repress his nostalgia and headed over for the check-in desk.

He was dressed in a tan suit jacket with a button-up white shirt underneath, a blue tie, and tan slacks. He was trying to look as official as possible without looking conspicuous as he wandered around the hotel. He was also carrying a suitcase.

The clerk greeted him as he stepped up to the desk. Zack flashed the fake ID and told her he was with the Tipton Company here for a surprise inspection.

"Oh, um, just a moment, I'll get the manager..." the young woman said and went into the office behind the desk.

Zack looked at the name plate sitting on the desk for the name of the manager. Thaddeus Young.

The young girl came out with the manager. He looked about 40-ish, slightly less than average height, black hair, curling up off the front of his head with some noticeable streaks of white. He had an irritated look on his face. He gave off the impression of being a very cold person.

"Can I help you?" Thaddeus said, extending his hand.

"Jonathan Straker." Zack said, extending his hand professionally and giving a tight squeeze. "I apologize for the intrusion, but I've been sent by the Tipton Board of Hotel Inspectors for a surprise check-up. I'm just going to need to take a look around at several things, and I should be out of your hair in several hours.

"I see." Thaddeus said, eyeing him warily. "I wasn't really given any notification that we had something like this coming up."

"Hence the surprise." Zack said, shrugging, trying to add a tone of humor to his words. He realized after the matter that it had come out sounding snarky, though.

"Well, exactly what do you want me to show you? Are you going to want to check around the entire hotel?" Thaddeus asked.

"Generally, that's what I aim to do." Zack said. "However, there are a few specific spots I will be giving attention to a little more than the others."

"Well, I will be more than happy to show you whatever you want to see. I keep a pretty tightly run ship. I don't think there's anything particular you will need to fi…"

Zack interrupted him. "Actually, this will be a private inspection. By our present protocol, I will be looking at a few things by myself. I won't be in your hair much. When I'm done I'll be heading back to the corporate office and you can be expecting a report from the Board in several weeks. I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about, this is just a new routine we're trying to establish."

Thaddeus still looked suspicious. "Okay... well, if you need anything, you should be able to find me in my office. What did you say your name was again?"

"Straker. Jonathan Straker." Zack said. He almost laughed at himself mentally. He'd said it almost as if it were 'James Bond.'

But he also felt a small amount of concern. Thaddeus seemed too suspicious. Zack knew his cover wouldn't last for very long if Thaddeus decided to run a check on him. He would have to be quick.

"Okay, well, just do what you have to do. Let me know if there's anything specific that comes up that I can be of assistance with."

"Will do." Zack said politely. "I shall actually be starting off my search in the basement, and then from there the kitchen, if you could be so kind as to point those out to me?"

Thaddeus did, and Zack made his way. Of course, Zack knew entirely where to go. But it would have looked suspicious if he had just wandered off and looked like he knew too much of what he was doing.

Thaddeus was still eyeing him warily as he left the lobby, which Zack didn't like. He simply did the best he could to keep looking like he was important and was there on a mission. Well, the latter part was true, anyways.

He made his familiar way through the hotel and down to the basement. A familiar musty smell overcame him as he entered. He felt another warm feeling of nostalgia. How many times had he and Cody messed around down here as kids? There were the familiar stone walls, the furnace… Zack briefly remembered when he'd been a teenager and had been working down here with Arwin for a summer job.

But he had to keep the reminiscing short. He was on a mission here. He was looking for a type of 'hole,' or, at least, the location where the hole had once been.

He'd had time throughout all his running around to skim the Necronomicon and study a few relevant parts of it. He knew all about the holes, the demonic hierarchy, and how the sizes of the holes determined the types and the facts that different types of demons could be summoned from different types of holes.

He knew there was supposed to be one here, from the report Archimedes had written. But where could it possibly be in this hotel? He wandered around the basement, looking carefully around for a tell-tale sign of something.

This hotel had been like his backyard once upon a time. It was hard to imagine there could be something here he hadn't already discovered. He briefly wondered whether or not he was actually wasting his time.

Then Zack came across the door.

He stopped, surprised.

It was built into the wall that was on the far left of the door leading into the basement area from the staircase. The thing was, Zack couldn't remember EVER seeing this door before. He and Cody had been down here thousands of times as kids. But never once in his life could he recall ever seeing this door.

In fact, just now, it seemed as if he had just been walking along when it suddenly appeared right in front of him. But that couldn't be right.

Zack frowned, looking at it.

No doorknob. None of any kind whatsoever.

He put his hands on it. It couldn't be pushed.

The door looked old. It had been here for a very long time. It certainly did not look like a recent addition to the hotel.

But how was he supposed to get in?

He had an odd premonition. He really couldn't figure out what caused him to do this, but he found himself walking over to another part of the basement.

There was a pillar, just a short ways from the door, and there was what looked like an electrical box. Zack felt like he hadn't seen this before, either, yet he was also not surprised to see it. When he'd walked over here just now, he'd expected it somehow. He couldn't explain it. It was like he had simply 'remembered' it, but not from when he'd been a kid. He was certain it hadn't been from when he'd been a kid. The memory was vague. It almost had a sense of coming from a past life.

And then it hit Zack: what if it had? The Tipton report in Archimedes' secret room had stated that Zack had, in a previous time, been attempting to renovate this land in order to turn this place into one of his clubs.

Had it been then? Was he now remembering a memory that had never happened?

Well, of course it had happened! But that timeline no longer existed, if Zack was to believe that the report by Archimedes was legitimate.

He opened the electrical box. It was not an electrical box at all. There were a series large buttons inside. Each of them had a different symbol.

Zack instantly knew what he was looking at. This was some type of combination code. Key in the right sequence, and the door would probably pop right open. Furthermore, Zack recognized the symbols. He had seen them a million times as a kid. They were patterned into the tablecloths in the dining room. He remembered noting this as a kid and wondering why each one had a different cloth. It was probably a clever way for Mr. Tipton to conceal the code yet have it on hand should he need to jog his memory.

Each one would correspond to a different table. All Zack could hope was that after all this time, the tablecloths were still there and on the right tables. Surely Mr. Tipton would have been adamant on keeping them on the right tables? But then again, how was he to expect after all this time...

Zack jumped. Something from his suitcase was beeping.

Confused, he opened his suitcase and was shocked to see that it was the strange goggles Maddie had been using back at the lighthouse.

How had these gotten these... wait! He remembered now! For some reason, he HAD pocketed them back at Fetch Rock and then stuck them in his suitcase right before coming here. But for the life of him now he couldn't figure out WHY. It was just like the door seeming to appear out of nowhere.

None of it made any sense. But the glasses were beeping steadily. Which was strange because the on/off switch was in the off position.

He flicked the switch on and stuck the glasses over his eyes.

Looking through the greenish night-vision type tint that the goggles displayed the world in and them giving off a type of whirring noise, Zack was surprised to see a type of strange mist hovering over one of the keys before him. Zack reached over and hit the key. When he did, the mist shifted. Zack punched all the keys in the order that the mist appeared over them. Whenever he would do so, it would shift. Eventually, he punched the last key, there was a whir, a click, and the door came open.

Zack took off the glasses and switched them off, bewildered at what had just happened.

This trip was turning out to be a total surprise. Zack had to wonder: just what was going on? Was he being led? By who? Or what? And for what reason?

Cautiously, Zack stepped over and entered George Tipton's secret tiny room.

(3)

There was an even stronger musty smell coming from the room. It was a very small room. There were several tables, tools and various items spread on each one, but not in a haphazard manner. One of the tables seemed to be specifically for developing photos. But it appeared to have not been used recently. There were no pictures. It looked fairly well organized. Many tools hung on the walls.

There was a section on the wall for holding keys. There was only one key on it. It was a large silver key. Zack took it off its holder and pocketed it. He wasn't sure what it might go to, but he felt he should probably hold onto it just in case.

There seemed to be nothing else of significance in the room. He tried all the drawers. They either held more tools, or paperwork that seemed boring.

Zack had a sudden inclination to look under the table. He couldn't tell where it came from. But when he did, he noticed that one of the stones on the floor seemed off. He knelt down and felt it. It was loose. He stood up and selected a long screwdriver, and stuck it down in the crevice to begin prying the stone loose and pull it up. It came with little trouble. Underneath was a journal.

Jackpot!

Perhaps.

Zack opened it up to the first page.

_July 6, 1956_

_Well, I feel this is as appropriate a time as ever to start a new journal._

_Nothing happened the night of the party, the 25__th__ Anniversary celebration of the Tipton Hotel chain._

_It was the biggest event of the year in the nation. The Tipton Hotel really outdid itself this time._

_Oh, I was worried. I was very worried._

_But then... I don't know exactly what. It seemed like something shifted. I can't really pinpoint or describe it. I just 'knew.'_

_I ran down to the temple as quick as I could._

_The hole was sealed._

_How or why, I do not know. But I do not really care. It was all I could do to thank God for this unexpected and divine miracle within our midst. Such a thing that I had not deserved! _

_I resolved I would take this gift and think of it more in the morning. I was too elated. I was probably the biggest party animal that night!_

_If the staff have been thinking I've been going cuckoo before, they surely were very worried about my mental state last night. But half the fun was convincing people that the animal skins, all that stuff about 'lyrics' and what-not, was all a joke in good fun. An elaborate prank. I saw relief in the faces of some people, and confusion and irritation in others. There will probably always be a few from this point on who really think I've really fallen off my rocker._

_Jonathan Crowshaw came up to me. "Did you stop it?" he asked. "Is it all gone? Do you feel better, now, too?"_

"_Yes." I told him. "I don't know how, but I do believe it's gone."_

_He seemed satisfied at this, and I did not linger on the issue any longer._

_Andrew Verney did have a good chat with me. He seemed confuzzled and confused by the whole thing. He continued to regard me as the good old friend I'd been to him all these years, though I could see that even he, too, was trying to judge whether or not I'd completely snapped shortly before all this._

_As the party wound down to a close, I ran straight to the nearest Catholic church, the one I had prayed at before, and knelt down in weeping before the Eucharist and the image of Christ. I thanked God for what was apparently a direct divine intervention and made a vow to never have anything to do with evil and the forces of darkness again. I've become a religious man again._

_I went straight from the church into my secret upper room and removed the Necronomicon. I've hidden it safely away where no one will ever find it. I do not intend to look upon it any further. The evil book cannot be destroyed, a testament to its true demonic power. I've put it away and will never look on it again. It is my solemn prayer that no one will ever find it._

_George Tipton_

Zack looked at the next entry…

_July 11__th__, 1956_

_Jack Cochran is dead._

_The media is abuzz about his death. For all intents and purposes, it appears to be a clear-cut suicide. He was found stabbed in his office by a strange ceremonial dagger. Only his fingerprints were on the blade. They found all sorts of strange occult texts in his desk. The dagger in particular had been kept in a jewel decorated box in Jack's desk._

_Jack had made it all too easy for me to implicate him in his own death. _

_I snuck into his office early yesterday morning. I hadn't been certain how I was going to kill him at that point. I had a silenced pistol on me. I was thinking I was going to shoot him and quickly leave. I hadn't wanted to stab him because it would have been too messy. But the dagger in his desk gave me what I needed. He'd unintentionally set himself up for me to fake his suicide._

_It was easy to snoop and peruse his things, since I still possess master keys to the building and Jack's desk, or, should I say, MY desk. So I took the dagger from its case (while wearing black leather gloves) and hid next to the door, waiting for him to come in to begin the day's work._

_I'm not worried about them finding fingerprints in the office. It's MY old office, after all. They should expect to find my fingerprints everywhere. They'll never be able to prove I did it. It will probably barely cross their minds. Nobody saw me there, either. It was early in the morning, and I know all the routes through the building where it's unlikely I'll be seen._

_Why did I do it? Fear, mainly._

_Murder is not something that appeals to me at this point, but I couldn't have that man continuing to run my company, not at this point. I still fear retaliation from the cult – or whatever that mysterious group is. I don't know what Jack Cochran may have been doing or continuing to do in my seat, and I needed him out and myself back in control._

_I'm being reinstated as CEO. I pushed hard for it against my previous proclamations about being absent for a fixed period of time due to health. They couldn't really say no to me very easily. Plus, it's the easiest instant fix for the company, and, truly, my mental health right now is better than ever. I feel alive again, rejuvenated._

_I still worry greatly about many things, about the hole, about the cult, about the hotel… _

_I think I should get in touch with Mark Crawley again. It's time to ask him some more questions._

_George Tipton_

_June 13__th__, 1956_

_I arranged a meeting with Mark in the back of his bookstore, brought him up to speed on what had happened, and pressed him for more detailed answers on the cult. _

_The shortest answer that he could give me was that he really didn't know much about the group. He'd been trying to gather more information on them for years, but had only found things that were inconclusive. Whoever they are, they've been very good at hiding who they are. _

_Mark's only had enough experiences to convince him that there was a secret group that had something to do with the Necronomicon, and he's been trying to get more information on them for a long time. But despite his searching, he still had no clue as to who they really are or what their aims are. According to him, they could be anything from a very small group, to a very large group, or even a series of fragmented groups…_

_The only real answer he could give me was that he is certain the Necronomicon has had many copies made down through the centuries, and English was certainly not its originally language. He believes that it may go back to several thousand years ago, and has probably been edited, redacted, and added to over the centuries. Whatever group may exist around the book probably goes back to those times too._

_Mark kept a very stiff lip about what had brought him to these conclusions. I was very irritated by this. But he assured me that the answers he'd given me were all he had at the present point. It appears any further research will have to be done on my own._

_The fact that I've had no further run ins with them only makes me even more on edge. Clearly, they had been before trying to make the hole more active so that the demonic energy would fully engulf the hotel. But they failed, somehow, and I haven't heard from them since. They have also not retaliated for Jack's death yet._

_Are they just holding back for a while in order to mess with my head? That may be the case. Should I make it a point to spend much of my free time delving into further research about this group? I'm not sure I want to._

_Truly, I've had enough messing around with details of the forces of darkness for one lifetime. I want nothing to do with the darkness anymore. I'm thinking it might be better to just let it go and try to live a normal life if I can. I need to focus on myself and becoming a better person. The thought of having to delve any further into occult matters is revulsive to me by this point. I'm just too tired of it all. The only thing that tempts me to reconsider is that I still don't know what this group is and I'm a little scared of them and for my loved ones._

_George Tipton_

Zack flipped to the next page, and noted that a several years had passed in between entries.

_May 6__th__, 1960_

_It's been a long, rough road. I've been trying hard to be a better person for the last few years. I'm back together with Meredith. I'm trying to be a family man. Meredith has remarked more than once that it's like I'm a completely different person._

_I suppose that's true. Though I wish it were not just me that's a completely different person._

_I'm very concerned for my son, Wilfred. Perhaps I should have noticed signs when he was much younger. Looking back, I can see them. But I was caught up so much in my own darkness that I was blinded, and even if I could have seen, I likely wouldn't have cared._

_It's hard for me to connect to Wilfred. He's never exhibited traits of a warm, socially affable person of any sort, even when he was a young child._

_As he grows up, I can see the same shrewd, cold demeanor of one who is destined for great things and knows it. I see much of the darker aspects of myself at that age, but far less repressed, and that scares me. Indeed, he is the heir to the entire Tipton Empire, but it's even far more than that._

_He has an innate business sense about him. He's very calculative, and knows how to get what he wants when he wants something. He's probably more skilled than I ever was in that regard. I got a lot of what I wanted by using the Necronomicon, and casting dark spells and calling on the powers of demons._

_Wilfred doesn't need to do any of that. He can get many of the things he wants simply by shrewd planning and manipulative innovation. He really doesn't seem to care about other people. Not at all. Not even a sign. I've never seen any indication of empathy in him whatsoever. That is what scares me the most._

_I was born with empathy, but I heavily repressed it over time and started to lose it when I dabbled in the darkness._

_Wilfred has never shown any sign he was born with empathy._

_Wilfred was conceived during the period of darkness in my life. It makes me wonder, did the darkness I was involved in pass down to him and become innate in him? Is it all my fault?_

_I can see traits in him, traits I used to have in myself, traits I've come to despise, the worship of power and money. Wilfred embodies innately much of the religion I used to follow, the religion I've now turned my back on. Heaven help someone like him if he ever got his hands on the Necronomicon!_

_I've tried to connect with him. I've tried to be a better father. But I don't think he cares about anyone or anything! I don't think there's anything I can do, either. I've tried just about everything by this point. I'm starting to think that the only thing I can do by this point is pray for his soul daily and hope for the best._

Zack had met Wilfred Tipton and knew firsthand that George's worries about his son were correct. Wilfred was one of the most horrible, terrible human beings he had ever met. Selfish, tyrannical, uncaring, even seeming to gain enjoyment from tearing others' lives apart. He remembered the time he and Cody were at Bailey's family's farm just after it got hit by a terrible twister. Wilfred Tipton had showed up out of the blue, having just purchased Bailey's family's farm out of the blue with intention to demolish it and build a plastic bag factory. It was quite clear that Wilfred seemed to relish not just the business he was trying to build, but the opportunity of ruining someone else's livelihood. It was no wonder London had grown up with some serious issues, having a father like that. He turned the page.

_August 16th, 1973_

_A thought occurred to me as I lied in bed last night. I don't know where it came from. It was simply this:_

_What if the reason I haven't had any encounters with the cult all these years was simply because they didn't care one way or the other that the hole was sealed? Or can they simply not do anything with it now that it's sealed?_

_Maybe it didn't ultimately matter whether the hole opened or not. Maybe it was all some sort of experiment. _

_My thoughts turn to worry the more I think about my son. I did go today to make sure the Necronomicons (yes, plural, mine and the one I took from Jack Cochran's office) were exactly where I hid them. They were still there._

_One thing that frightens me, in continuation from my previous entry. It is more clear than ever now that Wilfred worships power. This cult, the center of the demonic philosophy, also worships power. What if they were to try to get to him? He'd be a perfect candidate for their group. I wasn't one. I never lost the tiny bit of conscience deep down inside, no matter what I did to suppress it. But Wilfred… I don't think he has a conscience. They could use him. How do I know they aren't already?_

_Maybe I'm being paranoid. The whole thing feels like some sort of bad dream I'm trying to forget but can never fully get rid of. I wish all thoughts of it would just leave me and I could pretend it never happened. I wish I could go back and stop my foolish self from ever dabbling in any of that stuff._

The idea proposed by George here was disturbing. Zack had to think carefully. Had there ever been any indication Wilfred Tipton had had anything to do with any of this? Zack had not seen anything on Wilfred in Archimedes' files. Zack tried to remember if he'd ever gotten a vibe off Wilfred that could indicate he could be involved in something like this. The only thing Zack could remember for certain was that the guy was a giant asshole.

Zack didn't want to make any judgments based on inconclusive evidence. Still, George seemed to have a legitimate reason for concern. Zack flipped to the next page.

_December 18__th__, 1974_

_I don't think the hole sealed itself. I don't think the cult sealed it either. I don't know if I can go as far as to say God personally reached down and sealed the hole. I think someone else did, a human, but I don't know who._

_These feelings came to me as I awoke this morning. I had a dream last night. It was a very strange dream, but I don't remember any of it. Just the feeling of it. I know that it was strange and terrifying and vivid. I had a strange feeling I was seeing the future. Perhaps I blotted it out of my mind because it was too hard to take. But I do know the feeling I had when I awoke. _

_Darkness is never stronger than light. There is never so much darkness that the world can be fully consumed. There is always an equal balance in the world. But darkness can do much damage before it is finally snuffed out. I think that was what happened in my dream. The world was being covered in darkness, and horrible things were happening, but the light ended up appearing in the end and defeating the darkness._

_The darkness was certain it had won, because darkness always thinks it can outsmart the light. But as long as there's even one person standing up against the darkness, there is always hope._

_It is true that the future cannot be fully seen nor divined. I'm certain that nothing I experienced in the dream was set in stone. The one who fights with the power of the light must not give up. The darkness may think that it has won, and that any attempts to defeat it may be futile, but in the end it is only deceiving itself, it cannot win as long as there is someone who chooses light and chooses to fight for it._

_I am taking the two Necronomicons with me on a special vacation. We've just launched a new cruise ship based off the Tipton brand – the S.S. Tipton. I'm going to be there for the grand launch. Secretly, I'm going to take the Necronomicons along in a special suitcase. When no one is looking, it will find itself tethered with a heavy stone at the bottom of the ocean. May it be so that no one finds it as long as time continues in this world._

Zack flipped the page. There wasn't a date on the next entry.

_To whomever may find this journal. You may find the two rooms for my secret sins, one in the basement, and one near the roof entrance. There is a key hanging on the wall of my photo room where I am hiding this journal. Take it. It will get you into the room near the roof. As for the temple, the secret entrance still exists. I considered sealing it up, but felt there was little point. The spiritual hole is completely sealed and dissolved. It will not reappear nor reopen again. See the map of the basement on the following page for the location of the entrance. If you push on the stones, a secret door will open up._

Zack turned the page. There was a map of the Tipton Hotel basement. On it, a drawn arrow showed where the entrance was. Zack was familiar with the basement enough to know where that was. To think! In all of Zack and Cody's prowling around the hotel, this had been right under their noses the entire time.

It occurred to Zack that he had no idea when George Tipton had actually died. He figured it would be relevant to check the date and circumstances. He pulled out his phone and booted up Wikipedia on it. In the article on George Tipton, he had passed away suddenly in December 1986 due to a heart attack. There was nothing else particularly spectacular or notable in George's biography on this subject.

Zack left George Tipton's secret photo room, taking the journal with him in his suitcase. He went to the spot where the map indicated. He felt the stones carefully. He realized he could feel a slight draft. Zack leaned into the stones and pushed. He felt the stones giving away, swinging in to reveal the secret entrance to a tunnel.

Zack stood and eyed the tunnel, then opened his suitcase again and pulled out a small flashlight. He could see the tunnel went down quite a ways. He slowly walked through the entrance.

It was quite a walk through the tunnel. It felt like it was going on endlessly. He beamed his flashlight around the walls of the tunnel as he walked. He could see pillars halfway jutting out of the wall every so often.

After quite a bit of walking, he finally came to an opening which led into a very large room. There was nothing else and nowhere to go from here. Zack shined his flashlight all around. It was a circular room, and he could see the half-pillars coming out of the wall extending to the ceiling above and meeting in the center. There were what seemed to be pedestals of some sort around the wall which had probably at one point held something of large size, but whatever it was was long gone by this point.

Zack pointed his flashlight upon the ground. He saw only a normal stone floor. He did notice some oddity in the cut of the stones on the floor. He bent down to look at it closer. Shining his flashlight around, the stone looked like it had been cut once upon a time in the shape of a giant circle but had eventually been restored.

This room held nothing else of further interest for Zack. But it had been worth checking out, all the same. It only further served as a validation of all the crazy things Zack had been reading about. He was continually having little reason to doubt the craziness he was going through. It still seemed dreamlike to him in many ways. But it was becoming more firmly settled into the 'reality' category of his mind.

His next place to check would be George's other room. He stood up and turned around, his flashlight beam illuminating the face of the man who was standing directly behind him. Zack nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise, but had no time to respond before he felt the sudden sharp pain coming from his side. It took Zack's whirling mind a few seconds as he dropped his flashlight and stumbled before the most likely conclusion hit him: 'I've been stabbed!'

He stumbled and collapsed onto the ground, clutching his side. He lifted his hand to his face and was horrified to see that, indeed, his hand was covered in his own blood.

Zack looked up to barely make out Thaddeus, partially illuminated by the flashlight on the ground, standing over him with a type of ornate ceremonial-looking dagger.

"You should know that we're not so stupid and ignorant as you might wish to make us out to be, Mr. Straker, or should I say, Zack Martin." he said.

Zack tried to say something, but his throat wouldn't make the words, and his vision was starting to go blurry. Zack continued clutching his side, trying to stop the flow of blood, and trying very hard not to black out. He knew that if he completely blacked out at this point, he would be completely fucked.

He could hear Thaddeus pacing around him.

"It's true that I had no clue who you were when you came into my hotel with your fake I.D., but luckily I cross-checked you with the Tipton employee database and subsequently reported to the District Superior with your description. I'm glad I did."

Zack was coughing, trying to hold on. Thaddeus continued to talk.

"Now, I don't know who you are, or why you've come here, but I do know you seem to have caused quite a stir with the higher ups. You sealed your own doom when you came into my hotel and walked down into this temple alone."

"I-I'm… I'm… the Harbinger…" Zack choked out. He was having a hard time keeping his mind clear. But one confusing thing seemed certain that he knew from the get-go, he felt this particular cult member was intent on killing him right here.

He could hear Thaddeus stop pacing.

"Harbinger?" Thaddeus said with a thoughtful tone of voice. Zack could feel Thaddeus' eyes on him. Thaddeus seemed rather caught off guard by that statement and thinking of what to say. "You a defect from the order?" he asked after a while. "Or simply an interloper who's been poking around in more than he should have?"

"N-no, Archimedes s-said I-I'm the H-harbinger…" Zack said.

"Now you're just ceasing to make any sense whatsoever." Thaddeus said, with a tone that indicated he was clearly uncertain of what to say at this point. Zack suddenly had to wonder, did the entire cult not know about him? Was his supposed status of 'Harbinger' only known to a few?

Zack realized he was going to need to keep this line of dialogue up if he was going to survive.

"It's true… t-talk to Archimedes…"

"The Harbinger is something from our lore which may or may not be literally true." Thaddeus said thoughtfully. "And why should I bother the Grand Father with something like this? I hardly think that if you were so important to Archimedes the District Superior would have given me orders to kill you if the opportunity presented itself. The District Superiors answer directly to Archimedes, who answers to our Lord, whose will and wisdom our leader imparts to us. Now, you are clearly either a defect or have poked your nose around where you shouldn't have and poured through a number of our secrets somewhere in order to have come up with this delusion you are currently suffering from. So whether you are the latter or former, allow me to give you a little lesson on our 'faith,' assuming you can hold on that long.

"Do you understand the principle of spiritual/genetic legacy, Zack? It's been in our texts for a very long time, and it's only recently starting to become better understood by science. Magic from the old ages passed down in our genetics, or rather, the predisposition to certain types of magic being locked away within our genetics. It's very muted by this point in human evolution. We see manifestations of this nowadays in what we call 'ESP' or 'psychic powers.' The 'Harbinger' is mythology based off a very specific genetic legacy which goes by a different name and is very rare, though not _that _rare. Certainly, there may only be a handful of people in any generation who have a predisposition to this certain power, but there is always more than one, and moreover, we have ways of pinpointing such people should we need to. The 'Harbinger' in our lore refers to one specific person of this genetic predisposition who will supposedly bring about the end of the age. This may or may not be literally true. It may or may not be a possibility. If Archimedes genuinely believed you were this particular 'Harbinger,' I'm quite certain they would not have put out a request for your execution.

"Now, assuming that the lore of the 'Harbinger' is, in fact, true, our lore also states that if such a 'Harbinger' exists, then there is no person or obstacle alive which can stop them from completing their mission. And as I can currently note, _you_ are presently lying in a secluded room far underneath my hotel in a pool of your own blood. I am standing here about to end your life for good. So, I can only guess, even if you are telling the truth about having the potential to be a 'Harbinger,' at this point you must not be so important as you've made up in your mind."

As Zack was struggling to hold on, his mind alighted to doing something he wasn't prone to doing often. In his head, like on that night several nights ago back in his own time, he began to inwardly pray. He didn't know if the prayer was having any legitimate effect or not, but his mind suddenly began to feel clearer. It was then he suddenly realized something he'd completely forgotten. Zack could hear Thaddeus' footsteps moving in front of him.

"You've just made a class-A movie villain mistake." Zack told Thaddeus, struggling to speak despite the pain.

"Oh? And what is that?" Thaddeus said, stopping in front of Zack and asking in a faux-curious tone.

"You've been walking around for several minutes, dropping tons of information, going on and on, when you should have finished me already. And for the record, I'm a lot smarter than you give me credit for, too."

Zack reached into his jacket with his right hand and pulled out the concealed handgun he'd had in his inner pocket. Zack thought he could see a sudden look of surprise and realization on Thaddeus' face, and relished it, as he pointed the gun at Thaddeus, disengaged the safety, and fired off three shots.

Zack knew he had hit his target as Thaddeus' face went into a grimace before he went down and crumpled to the ground.

Now there was only dead silence in the chamber. It took Zack a moment to register that he'd just killed his first human being ever. Zack felt a little nauseous in addition to being woozy. His side throbbed terribly. Zack realized he was going to have to get out of here if he was going to survive. Zack doubted that anyone would have heard the gunfire. They were quite a ways down in a secluded, stone room underneath the hotel.

Zack took off his jacket off, pulled his tied off, and then yanked his shirt open, ripping the buttons, and then quickly pulled it off and tied it tight as he could around himself in order to slow down the bleeding. He pulled his suit over the shirt and buttoned it up to hide the fact he was shirtless and bleeding. He stuffed the tie in his jacket pocket.

He wasn't sure if anything critical had been stabbed with the blade. It hurt like a motherfucker. He willed himself to stand up. The pain was very sharp in his side. He groaned. Zack knew there was an E.R. just a block away outside the hotel. He was going to do his best to stumble out of the cave, take a back door out the hotel into the alley, and stumble to the emergency clinic as much as he could make it. He was acutely aware he might not make it. He had lost a fair amount of blood already. There was only so much his makeshift tourniquet could do to keep the bleeding in check. He was not in a very good state. Plus, if anyone were to see him in his current state inside the hotel, it would raise too many questions, especially with Thaddeus' body down here.

As Zack forced himself to stand up, grabbing his suitcase at the same time, trying not to scream at the pain in his side, he shined his flashlight and saw Thaddeus' corpse in a pool of blood.

'Rot in hell.' was all Zack could bring himself to think. Then he began the slow, painful process of stumbling out of the temple and getting help.


	18. Return To The Tipton Hotel Pt II

**Dark Fall 2**

**Part II: Conspiracy**

**Chapter 17: Return to the Tipton Hotel Part 2**

Three months later, Zack sat in a coffee shop not far from the Tipton Hotel, sipping a cup of coffee and running his plans through his head again.

In about five or ten minutes he would be leaving the coffee shop and returning to the hotel to resume once again where he had left off.

His primary plan was to take a look at George's other secret room he hadn't had a chance to before. After that, he would figure out what to do from there.

His overall plan now was to take small steps at a time.

Zack's thoughts were turned to Maya at this moment. He hadn't cried for her in the last three months more than twice. It still felt like he had been with her just a short while ago, yet by this point it also felt like she had been gone forever. It felt like there was a tear threatening to come out of his eye right now, but he knew it wouldn't. Not at this moment. Probably again at some completely random point in the future. But the times he would cry for her were becoming further and further apart. His mind was turning further and further from the hopes of finding her safe and sound and more toward coping with the new life he found himself in without her. Toward moving forward. Toward survival. Toward vengeance.

Something had changed in Zack since he'd been stabbed by Thaddeus in the temple underneath the hotel three months ago. Even he couldn't fully explain it himself. Perhaps a psychologist would have labeled it after effects of trauma.

Truly, all he could guess for certain was that the extreme emotions he'd been feeling for half a year's worth of time now had finally reached their snapping point.

He was aware to a point that he still felt grief, anger, sorrow, rage, and all these things at the back of his mind, but they were no longer directly on the surface anymore. They had been strangely pushed down and partially shut out when Zack had been stabbed, when he'd been lying in that hospital bed for a couple of weeks, and while he'd been resting and recovering in a room in the St. Mark's hotel, using the time to pour endlessly over every document from the cult he had acquired.

Yes, he'd finally reached the breaking point, he was certain. Now the only thing on his mind was his current mission. It was all he was focused on. It was all he could think afford himself to think about anymore. The time for grief was over. He was clearly unlikely to ever see his wife again. His life around him had been destroyed. His possibility of continued survival from this point on was always teetering on the edge of a thread.

This group, whatever they were, were holding all the cards, and he was still no closer to figuring out exactly what role he played in their game. No matter. He had nothing further to live for, as far as he was concerned. And all he could think about was moving forward, taking revenge, doing something. Fighting until his death.

He was surprised to feel the rage once again boiling up in his mind, right now, thinking on these things, just as he was about to head off and resume his mission. He hadn't allowed himself to feel the sheer rage in this way for some time. But he was feeling it now. His hand holding his coffee cup was shaking and for a second he felt he might actually crack the ceramic handle in his hand.

Perhaps something unsavory had also happened in Zack's mind when he'd taken his first human life. A few times since then, he'd been having dreams, of taking his gun and mowing down a whole bunch of them all at once. He imagined in his head turning his gun on Archimedes. Sometimes in a waking state, his mind slipped into thoughts of punishing them in even more horrible ways.

Zack tried to calm his shaking hand and sipped his coffee.

(2)

After leaving the Tipton hotel, Zack had made it as far as the E.R. doors before he'd finally collapsed. A bunch of shocked nurses and doctors had rushed out and rushed him in the doors.

When Zack had come to, he'd been in a hospital bed with IV's sticking in him everywhere. There had been many questions. In particular because he'd had no I.D. on him.

Of course there hadn't been an I.D. on him. He'd made sure to stash his fake I.D. away before he'd stumbled outside of the hotel.

(3)

Though Zack's side had been searing with pain and it had been an utter struggle to not pass out right then and there, Zack had managed to retain some amount of his sharp senses just enough to think his plan through.

Zack had known he wouldn't have be able to just walk into the E.R. bleeding to death with a handgun on him and fake identification identifying him as an employee of the Tipton organization. To do so would've brought about too many tough questions and put him in a spot of trouble.

Then there was also the fact that Thaddeus' corpse was currently rotting in the temple just beyond the secret entrance. Zack couldn't just have left it wide open for anyone to stumble into and find.

So Zack had stumbled out of the temple, and as hard as it had been, had managed to push the swinging stone entrance back into place. His side had throbbed even more mercilessly while he did so.

Then he'd stumbled over to the code box and punched in the code for George Tipton's secret room. He'd stashed his suitcase, his gun, and his identification in there.

Finally he'd made his way upstairs and out a back door of the hotel leading into an alley. No one had seen him. His intricate knowledge of the hotel had been his upper hand in the whole ordeal.

And so he'd finally managed to stumble about in the blisteringly hot day and had been able to walk for about a block when he finally made it to the emergency room, but he hadn't been able to quite make it through the front doors.

(4)

Zack had answered the doctors' prodding questions with the following answers: He was Ben Stillman, a small business owner who was supposed to have been meeting a potential business partner in Boston at the St. Mark's. The meeting had not gone well, and no deal had been made. Then he had taken a shortcut through an alley where he'd been mugged and stabbed. They had made off with his wallet and his identification. No, he hadn't been able to get a good look at the guys; they'd had their faces covered. Zack, or Ben, as he'd told the doctors he was, had done some quick thinking in attempting to stop the bleeding before stumbling up to where he had seen the E.R. on his way to the St. Mark's.

(5)

Zack had refused to answer any more questions from the doctors until he could confer with his other business partner in L.A., privately.

He'd called Lenny and given him a brief outline of his current situation without giving any specific, exact details such as the temple and Thaddeus. All Lenny needed to know was that Zack was in the hospital and was having a stab wound tended to, and he urgently needed new fake identification as 'Ben Stillman' and a good amount of money wired to him.

"Are you out of your freaking mind?" Lenny had half-shouted into the phone. "First of all you appear out of the blue, don't tell me ANYTHING about what's been going on with you, you act all clandestine and mysterious, and now you're calling me from all the way across the country to tell me you've been stabbed? Zack, just what the hell is going on? For the love of God, let me in on something, please!"

"I've already told you before. I can't do that, Lenny. I'm sorry."

"This is insane! Crazy! Outlandish! I'm coming down there right now!"

"No!" Zack hissed into the phone, half-whispering, half-yelling. "You need to stay in L.A! Just go about your business as normal. Just do what I tell you to do and everything will work out."

"Zack, for gosh sakes, I'm your friend! We've been friends for a long time! I can't just sit here while gosh knows what's happening to you! And what's going on is too crazy for me to just…" Lenny sounded desperate.

"If you really are my friend, then you'll trust me and do exactly as I say. Believe me when I say you really don't want these people after you, too!"

"Shit, man!" Lenny said.

"If you want me to be able to come through this, I need you to do what you can to the best of your abilities with everything I ask of you. As I said before, I need a good chunk of money wired to me from my savings and some new identification."

"I don't even know what to say anymore! Do you have ANY idea what you're putting me through?" Zack could just see Lenny pacing frantically and throwing his free hand repeatedly while talking to him.

"Yes, I do, Lenny." Zack said as straightforward and serious as possible. "When this is all over, I will be more than happy to explain everything to you. Right now, though, it's extremely important that you do as I say and help me get what I need. Okay?"

"You promise you'll explain everything?"

"Yes, Lenny."

Lenny sighed over the phone.

"Okay. But you'd better keep to your word! And I mean it! Everything!"

"You may not believe me when I actually do tell you what's been going on, but I'll keep my promise."

(6)

Zack had been discharged from the hospital roughly two weeks later and had checked himself into another hotel in a nearby city. It was less extravagant than the Tipton or St. Mark's, but luxury had not been his primary concern at this point. It was recovery. And recovery, as well as anonymity, had been safer further away from the Tipton rather than nearer.

He'd wanted to get well enough before continuing his search just in case he had any more physical confrontations. Even after three months, he still didn't consider himself fully one hundred percent healed, but he'd decided he was healed enough to continue his search.

He'd been very lucky that no vital organs had been pierced. Lucky, or a miracle, he wasn't exactly sure which. All the doctors had told him he'd been unusually fortunate. Fortunate or not, though, he knew he was going to have a slight handicap from this point on.

While he was going through the process of recovering, he'd been able to go over everything he had taken from Fetch Rock meticulously. After spending a great deal of time with the Necronomicon, he'd realized that getting any real information about the particular cult he was dealing with from the book itself was pretty fruitless. The book primarily dealt with dark spells, rituals, incantations, with the lists of types of demons, hierarchies, and some occasional musings by what Zack presumed were various anonymous writers. It was clear that the book had been written for a very wide range of dark practitioners, not just one specific group. And while the writings of the various author(s) on demons, dark magic, and the nature of the demonic world was illuminating, Zack was cognizant enough to be skeptical of assuming the writings in his hand was anything other than the interpretive opinion(s) of the authors.

There was one particularly interesting portion, though, was when Zack came across the following paragraph:

_A second word of caution: the rules and rites and rituals listed in this book assume that you are dealing with holes that are relatively small or of a normal size. However, it is commonly believed that there are some holes in the world that should not be messed with. As mentioned before, the underworld has a hierarchy. The demons you will be summoning out of the normal holes will be lesser demons. However, it is entirely possible for much higher ranking demons to come out of much bigger holes, which is why it is extremely dangerous that these even be messed with. Whether you sell your soul to Lord Abaddon or not is of no consideration. These higher demons will not waste a chance like this to attack, hurt and kill anyone they can, even the necromancer, and especially the necromancer. _

_It is highly believed, though disputed, that the Revelation of the seer St. John as recounted in the Bible involves the 'Antichrist', Satan himself being summoned out of a particularly large hole. Whether there is or not any truth to this theory is among serious debate. But many experienced necromancers and priests of the dark arts believe unwaveringly that these extremely large holes should never be touched. If such a thing were to happen, it could possibly spell the end of the world._

There was a paragraph underneath which was of a different ink (red) and writing style. It looked like it had been added in rather than copied from another copy.

_This is partially correct. 'Satan' or 'Abaddon' can only be summoned out of the hole at Quadrant Z. All the holes on this planet could be activated to devastating effect. However, most of the holes are far too small, and the large ones can be defeated by anyone who knows the correct incantation. Also, the "influential area" would never be able to extend far enough out into the ocean. Finally, the amount of energy required to activate the Z hole is too massive. The Z hole would lie dormant while the rest of the world burned, and humanity would surely find a way to seal all the holes back. The energy must also be offered at the Z hole itself. To let the VAM class demons feed off the energy of all the Type-M descendants would be a total waste. Then finally, there is also the other notable problem that most dabblers of the Necronomicon would seek to stop the activations themselves. Not all of us are after the same goal. There are many that act as if they are the elect, but no matter how high in status they may be in the eyes of the Brothers of Belial, they are, truthfully, nothing more than weak dabblers. Therefore, the majority of the holes are inconsequential. _

_C_

There was a red arrow drawn underneath the paragraph. Zack turned the page and saw that it went down the left side of the page, where another paragraph had been written in under the text.

_It is now my conclusion that activating all the holes would have another unintended consequence. I hadn't realized the extent to which the pocket universe of Earth and the 'holes' or 'rips' are connected to the source core of A., and thus, are constantly interacting with the very skein of time and space itself. Hole summoning, demonic absorption, and the potential of Language Zero can alter everything we think we know about time and space and subsequently, reality. Alternate timelines, parallel universes… To put it in modern terms, glitches in the system. They exist. Rather than spend time speculating about which is the 'real' timeline/reality, it is more imperative than ever that the Appearing be made a reality. That is the only way the madness will end. The Empire needs to rise again, but not in its original state. A dark empire. El or whatever he wants to call himself must be ejected from this realm entirely._

_C_

Zack had read these paragraphs over and over again, trying to make sense of them till his eyes were bloodshot. By the end of it, his head was hurting so much he pretty much gave up.

Another interesting thing that had caught Zack's eye was when he'd gotten to the end of the book. On the inside of the back cover had been written something in the same red ink, though Zack could not tell for certain whether the handwriting was the same or not:

_Incantation:_

_The host is created and then sent to the darkness of the beginning of all things. After its indwelling, the host returns by the incantation of the guiding light. The dweller gives power to the seer. The seer gives power to the doorway. The ten dark magicians sing the blasphemous song. The connector unites all into one. The doorway, or rather, the beast's head, is wounded, and the soul departs the shell a second time, creating inside himself the portal. Abaddon uses any willing vessel through the proper energies, whether they are cognizant or not, though they must be prepared in the proper way. By this shall all mankind (but only those worthy) achieve salvation._

Again, whatever meaning this passage might have had was completely lost on Zack. Zack wanted to understand. He felt if he could understand, he'd be able to figure out much better just what he was up against. But he couldn't. It was frustrating. He was missing just way too much information.

He'd finally sighed and closed the book.

Then he'd spent the rest of his time going through the various files he had taken from Fetch Rock. From what he was able to find, he had already pretty much gone through all the 'juicy' stuff back in Fetch Rock. There was little else to find that shed any new light on anything. There were a few more reports written by Archimedes Demarion, but they were mostly on various minor issues pertaining to different towns. Any of them that hinted at any inner workings of the group were written in an extremely vague manner. He had noticed one new thing he had not been paying attention to the previous time:

Each file corresponding to a town had a list in the back of it. The lists were of people who had transferred out of the various towns. However, the lists failed to state exactly where the people had been transferred to.

Zack felt like this might be worth remembering. He vowed to keep it in the back of his mind.

'_What do all of these towns really exist for? What exactly are you up to, Archimedes?'_

It was quite clear by this point that Archimedes was more than just a higher up. Archimedes was certainly more than just the head of one small town as he acted like he was. The impression Zack got out of his research was that Fetch Rock was, for some reason, a much more important town than the others. Archimedes was planted there to protect and oversee what it was. But Zack had the impression that rather than being a very high ranking leader, Archimedes w_as _the leader. This this was his game. He was the Grand Poobah of all of this.

Zack found this extremely interesting since a number of the documents he had in his possession didn't reference if Archimedes as if he was the leader. But in his own personal, secret writings, Archimedes had implied himself as being _the _leader of the whole thing, even as far as indicating he operated under multiple identities! If it was true that Archimedes was the head of the whole thing, then why the secrecy and confusion?

Zack would also have liked to have known who 'C' was, the anonymous author who had added to the version of the Necronomicon Zack had found in Fetch Rock. Zack had briefly wondered for a few seconds if it was Archimedes, but something about that hypothesis didn't seem quite right.

(7)

Within the last few weeks of his recovery, Zack had pretty much given up on his research. The more he'd dug and dug, the more questions he'd found himself having, and the murkier things seemed all around. He'd been searching for months for the truth of what had really happened to Maya, and it seemed as if he was no closer than when he'd first started out.

He'd finally, in frustration, thrown the last few files he'd been reading all across the room. He'd sat, staring at the wall for a good amount of time, his head aching as well as being frustrated, angry, and confused.

It was at that point he realized that he was probably never likely to find the actual truth this way. He'd sat and given himself a good, long forty minutes or so to calm down and think.

He'd eventually decided he couldn't necessarily one hundred percent trust a lot of the information he was going through since he'd first set foot in Fetch Rock, whether it was penned by the (ghost of?) Drake, Archimedes, or anyone else tied to the cult. It was simple: there was no way to tell whether or not the stuff he was reading was free from bias or that it hadn't been written simply to throw someone like him a red herring. Some of the information Zack had been coming across also seemed slightly contradictory itself. He was mentally and emotionally tired by this point. He needed to keep pressing forward. Getting stuck on supposed information he came across would only bog him down and keep him from moving forward.

He knew he needed to finish his investigation of the hotel. He needed to check out that other secret room George Tipton had mentioned. He wasn't sure where he was to go from there afterward. He could go back to Fetch Rock and continue searching the town, although he really didn't think there was anything more to find. What he really wanted to do the most was figure out how to get back to his own time.

He was frustrated. He was certain the portal was still in the cave. He was aggravated that he hadn't been able to use it to go back. Maybe the portal to his own time was elsewhere? Such a thing might give him good reason to search Archimedes' house again.

So, as far as Zack was concerned, he had several goals now. Check out the secret room in the Tipton and find a way home. He was going to concern himself little with how the cult operated or what their aim was from this point on. He was going to focus on getting back to 2019, and after that, he would figure out where to go from there.

(8)

And so here he was, sitting in this little café, not one hundred percent fully healed, but healed enough, getting ready to head back to the hotel and resume his search.

He took one last sip of coffee, savoring the flavor, and then set his cup down and departed the coffee shop.

(9)

Zack was using a disguise this time. Black wig and a short fake mustache. He was trying to be really careful. He was primarily concerned about the teller he'd talked to before recognizing him, or there being other cult members stationed in the hotel.

Zack kept himself inconspicuous. He had his concealed handgun in his jacket. He had gone and traded his former one for one that was silenced. The key he'd found in George's photo room was in his pocket. He had his trusty small travel bag with him. Since he was in a hotel, no one would even give him a second glance.

He took the elevator up to the top floor, and seeing that there was no one around in the hallway, he entered the stairwell. He saw the door next to the door leading to the roof. He remembered seeing this door when he'd been a kid, even trying to get into it but not being able to figure out how. He'd even tried to pick the lock with no success. But he'd eventually lost interest and forgotten about it altogether. Now he had the key.

He inserted it and turned it. It clicked. Zack opened up the rusty door and entered the room.

There were no windows inside. It was completely dark. Zack felt around for a light switch but felt none. He pulled a flashlight out of his bag and switched it on before closing the door, giving himself some privacy.

As Zack shined his light around, he could see no light nor light switch anywhere. It was quite apparent that the designer of this room had intended it to be dark.

The most obvious feature was the large pentagram on the wall and table and alter underneath it. Zack walked up to them for a closer examination. He noted a grate around the altar. He could see very old traces of dried blood.

The room felt very uncomfortable. It definitely felt like there was some sort of lingering presence here. But Zack refused to give into fear. He had a mission to accomplish.

On the table in front of the altar, only two items sat. More items had obviously been here before, but they had been long removed. The two items were a small book and a large basin of water.

Zack picked up the book and opened it. What he found inside was apparently another diary of George Tipton. This one was dated to before the other one Zack had found, and this one went all the way back to George's childhood.

Zack decided to read this back in the comfort of his own hotel room. He opened his bag and put it in. The only thing left was the basin. Curious that it had been left here.

He peered at it, wondering briefly just how old this water was. Something was beeping from his bag. Zack reached in and realized it was the goggles, the same ones he'd used to see the correct combination for George's code door.

He cautiously switched them on and put them on his head, uncertain as to what he was about to see. Looking through the goggles, he could see that the water basin was shimmering. It was the same type of luminescence he'd seen in the cave that had brought him here.

He reached out and touched it.

Everything shimmered around him. He noticed that it had a different feel this time. It wasn't as if he was being pulled somewhere, but being transferred.

When everything stopped shimmering, he blinked and looked around. He realized he was in the Tipton hotel lobby once again. But it looked a little different than it had just before. He realized that it looked like it had back when he and Cody had been kids. He also realized that there had apparently been an incident of some sort in the lobby. Furniture was upturned. Hair and fur were everywhere. Employees were going about trying to clean up the mess.

Zack was surprised to notice that one of the employees was Esteban. Zack wasn't certain which time period he was in now. He suddenly realized he ought to not be wearing the goggles in the lobby. He didn't want to stand out. He reached up to his face and found that they weren't there. Zack was confused. He then happened to turn toward the candy counter and was shocked to see a teenage Maddie. To make the image even more surreal, the manager's office door opened up, and Zack watched as Marion Moseby came out with Carrie and a very young Zack and Cody, back when they'd been 11 or 12.

Zack suddenly realized he was in the past on the first day he and Cody had arrived with their mother to live at the Tipton.

He was pretty shocked and didn't know what to do. Could he really be here? Was all this real? But he noticed the whole experience seemed to have a very lucid quality. This wasn't like when he had touched the cave wall and time traveled. He started to wonder if he were merely experiencing a vision of the past rather than actually being there. He reached over and tried to touch a potted plant sitting on a table. His hand went right through it.

Esteban was leading Zack, Carrie, and Cody to the elevator to show them their room where they would be living in from this point on. Carrie looked pretty miffed. She KNEW Zack and Cody had done something to cause the commotion in the lobby but had no way of proving it. (And never would, but she'd still grounded them anyway.) But what really caught Zack's attention was when he saw his younger self suddenly look over into the corner and have a brief and curious expression. Older Zack turned to look and see what his younger self had seen and his heart almost caught in his throat.

He saw it briefly himself, only for a few seconds, and then it faded away. It was in the shape of a man, but its form had been completely black, with no discernable feature whatsoever. It was tall, and stood in a strange, crooked shape.

_!DARK MAN!_

Zack remembered now. He remembered seeing this on his very first day in the Tipton. How had he forgotten it? But he realized he had forgotten it the second after he'd seen it.

'_Sometimes I see him… right before something really bad is going to happen…'_

Words he'd never spoken but remembered saying in another time, another place, flashed through his mind. He could hear it as clearly as if he was listening to his own voice as a kid.

Everything was shimmering again. Zack faded back into the secret room, standing before the basin. He still had the glasses on. The basin was no longer shimmering. He looked up and his heart almost caught in his throat again.

There was a child in the corner of the room staring at him. He was standing there in a very ghostly shape. His clothes looked curious. Zack noted that they looked like they'd come from a much earlier period of America.

The child turned and walked through the wall.

"Hey!" Zack said.

He tore off the goggles and found his way out of the room. There was nothing outside nor anyone around. Zack peered cautiously down the stairwell, moving slowly to see if he could catch a glimpse of anything. Zack put on his goggles again for a few seconds and turned them on. He could see nothing. He took them off again.

Zack looked at the goggles closely. He had to ask himself, exactly what kind of device was this? Where had Maddie gotten something like these from?

There was a company name on the side: Hadden.

Hadden… the same name that had been on the disc in Archimedes' house! Could that be a coincidence?

Zack realized he was going to need to look into this company a little more closely.

Zack realized that, for all intents and purposes, he was completely done with the Tipton for the time being. He put the electronic goggles in his bag, headed back into the hallway, and took the elevator down and exited.

(10)

The first thing Zack did back in his hotel room was sit down and have a thorough read of George Tipton's diary he had found.

If he hadn't seen the temple underneath the hotel with his own eyes, he would have been wary of believing a word of it. But he had, and it was all too fantastic and surreal reading about what had supposedly taken place in the home where he and Cody had grown up in. Some of the things had already been referenced in Archimedes' personal report on the Tipton, but Zack found them greatly expanded upon in George's journal.

George had discovered the Necronomicon when he'd been a teenager. He'd grown up in Kettlepod, Kansas, in a fairly uneventful start to life. There had been a strange family in town who lived outside of town almost in the middle of nowhere, and there had been plenty of rumors of weird things that took place up there. Black magic. Witchcraft. None of it initially beyond hearsay.

But then the family had finally stopped coming around town. And as a teenager, George had met Jamie, a kid who had a morbid obsession with dark things. Jamie had taken George to the now abandoned house and showed him the Necronomicon that had been hidden there and left behind. Jamie had uttered an incantation and the things that had happened in that house had freaked George out to the extent where he'd almost vowed to never have anything to do with the forces of darkness ever again. Almost.

Then Jamie had committed suicide one day, leaving a disturbing suicide note where he claimed he was offering himself up to Abaddon. George had snuck back to the house where the Necronomicon still was.

George's first real use of the Necronomicon was to get back at a bully that had been tormenting him. It ended up working too well, and George had almost been scared enough again to give it up for good. But he hadn't. And over time, George became accustomed to using the powers of darkness to get himself whatever he wanted. He used the spells in the Necronomicon to swing attaining wealth, riches, power, his wife, and everything else he desired.

He became particularly fascinated with the 'holes,' hotspots of spiritual power that made spells and incantations far more potent. He was particularly interested in the 'mega-holes' the Necronomicon warned about, holes by which particularly powerful demonic entities could be potentially summoned out of.

When ground had been broken for the Boston location of the Tipton Hotel, the workers broke through to a secret, ancient temple underneath the ground. George was shocked to realize it was actually the location of a mega-hole. He paid the workers to keep quiet and build the hotel on top of it, fashioning a secret entrance for his own personal use.

Then, when the hotel had finally opened, he made the hotel his personal home and created the secret upstairs room in order to practice dark magic and test the hole's power.

The things that he summoned started to wreak havoc in the hotel. He then realized that what he'd done was not able to be reversed so easily, and that he had placed himself and everyone else in the hotel in great danger. He'd gotten freaked out enough to begin feverishly searching for a way to stop the dark forces emerging from the hole, forces that were becoming stronger and stronger with each passing day.

He was discovered by the son of a hotel maid, Arthur. Arthur had tried to help him, and George accidentally killed him after becoming temporarily possessed in an attempted exorcism.

George, wracked with guilt, had pressed on.

Zack could put the rest of the pieces together on his own. George had failed, and in an alternate timeline, Cody had been George's successor. Cody had won. Somehow, this had also altered history and spawned this new timeline.

And by sheer fate, Zack and Cody had grown up in the Tipton Hotel for a significant portion of their lives.

Everything had come full circle again. Zack was now continuing the work that had apparently been left off when Cody had won. Could that really be the case? Was this all destined from the very beginning? The thought was too hard for Zack to wrap his mind around.

But there was one sentence in the journal that had really struck him, and given him quite a shock, when he'd come across it:

_August 7, 1946_

_It was approximately when I was 16 that I first began to be fascinated by the dark arts. I remember the skeptic I had once been. But there was a boy in my school who had been big into it. I remember, he had taken me with him one night to an abandoned house on the outskirts of our small town that I grew up in. It was out in the middle of a bunch of woods, a good walk from town into the country. _

_It was said to have been owned by an odd, eccentric family who were very secretive and only came into town when it was absolutely necessary to buy groceries, and other necessary things. Their kids didn't attend any of the public or private schools in the area, and you only saw them when they came into town with their parents. The kids were always silent and never spoke a word to anyone. You didn't dare try to talk to them, either. Their parents were always with them, and they were very scary people. I remembered them vaguely from when I was real young and I had seen them several times. Rumors abounded about what took place up at that house, from them being rumored to be a part of some strange cult and performing witchcraft, to many other sinister things. _

_I had gone up to one of the kids once and tried to say 'hi', but his mother had suddenly appeared and screaming at me in front of the whole store and telling me to stay away from her kids. That's the only time I clearly remember her speaking to anyone but the grocer who was ringing up her order. She raised such a ruckus that Mr. Rickman, the then-manager of the store, had nearly kicked her out. In retrospect, I think the only reason he didn't force her to leave was because of how scary she was. Several days later, he was hit by a car that swerved off the road and killed him. Rumors started going around that he had been cursed. I didn't know what to think of that._

_One thing I clearly remember thinking that day while she was yelling at me was: 'Her eyes'. Her eyes looked as normal as anyone else's, but I also remember thinking that there was something dreadfully wrong with them. It was like she was human, but there was something very horrifying behind her eyes that wasn't human. There was also something wrong with the kids' eyes, too. But they wasn't scary like in their mothers'. Their eyes were more sad. It was a little disturbing to look at them and see the degree of sadness in their eyes. That's how I remember feeling. Their dad wasn't in the store that day, but I noted the next time I saw him that he definitely had the 'scary eyes', too. _

_That day - that boy, I remember that when his mother was checking out, he was looking over at me, like he really wanted to chance coming up and talking to me. When his mother finished checking out, she looked down, saw him staring at me, and almost flew into another rage. 'COME, ARCHIMEDES!' she yelled, so loud everyone in the store stopped and glanced over in her direction. _

_I would only see him and the rest of his family a few more times in this life, but he never so much as looked in my direction ever again. When I was ten, we stopped seeing them around any more, and I eventually heard that they had moved away._

The Archimedes mentioned in this entry couldn't possibly be the same Archimedes he knew from Fetch Rock! Could he? It was too bizarre to be a coincidence. Could George have actually owned the copy of the Necronomicon that had been owned by Archimedes' family?

Zack went back and pulled the report from the 'Tipton' file where Archimedes had talked about George coming to possess the Necronomicon. Archimedes' report was saying it was no coincidence that George had come to possess the Necronomicon, and that Archimedes had orchestrated it.

Could Archimedes have gone back in time to do so, to the very place where he'd been a kid?

Sometime later, Zack pulled out his laptop and Googled 'Hadden Industries.' His computer kept popping up messages informing him there were far more recent versions of his internet browser and other programs now available. Zack ignored them and continued searching.

There was nothing spectacular about the company. It was a simple technology company based in Canada that had been making great strides in technological advancement over the last several decades, enough so that as of the current year, it was starting to gain international attention. They had recently struck a deal with NASA to aid them in the engineering of greatly advanced space exploration technology. Interestingly, Zack noted, they had an entire branch dedicated to supernatural exploration technology. It was a very small branch, but paranormal exploration had apparently become a more serious subject of study over the last few years, and they'd had quite a generous amount of success with that branch. As a matter of fact, paranormal exploration technology had been one of the primary functions of the company when it had first been formed several decades ago, curiously.

There was nothing of worth in the article. Zack looked through the Wikipedia articles on past and present CEO's of Hadden. He could see nothing about any of them that stood out. The founder had been a rather quirky inventor named Froderick Emerson who had at some point turned his company over to a businessman in order to retire and become a holistic guru. None of the succeeding CEO's were inventors themselves in any shape or form, but the company had flourished more and more over time, a credit to the engineers of the company. That was all Zack could find on the company, and he turned off the browser and switched the computer off.

Zack spent some time investigating the Hadden goggles closely. He flicked the power switch and put them on. There were a few different dials on the side of the goggles. It was like looking through nightvision goggles, but he could turn the dial on the right side and the color and shade would change. He wasn't sure what that was supposed to do. The switch on the left hand side appeared to control a type of reticle that he could expand or collapse however he wanted to. Again, he wasn't sure what the point of it was.

He could see nothing of note in his hotel room like he had back in the Tipton Hotel. Zack tried to turn the dials back to the original settings and took them off. He looked at them in his hand once more.

He suddenly realized something. When he had put these on in the upstairs room in the Tipton, the basin had been shimmering and he had been able to use it as a portal! Granted, it was not a legitimate time portal, but what if somehow these goggles would let him do the same thing back in the Fetch Rock cave? Could he possibly find the portal he had taken before and go back? Or, could he even use it to find _more _portals?

Zack wasn't sure why he had been able to see the Tipton portal only with these goggles on. Why should he only be able to see or use the portals while using this contraption?

Zack felt it was worth a shot, though. It wasn't like he had any further leads to go on.

Zack also thought about the ghostly boy he had seen. Had the goggles allowed him to see a legitimate, random ghost in the Tipton? Zack knew from his childhood the Tipton had its share of ghost. Room 316, for instance.

But there was something about the way the boy had been looking at Zack.

Zack placed the goggles back on the nightstand. It was 11:13. Zack was pretty tired. For lack of any better options, Zack did some thinking and finally decided he was going to head back to Fetch Rock the next day and test his theory to see if he could find a working portal. That would be the next logical step in his search.

He was exhausted to the point he didn't really bother getting out of his clothes. He simply slipped under the covers of his bed, turning the light out. The floor beside the bed was littered by the stuff he'd been looking through.

In the darkness of the room, he felt himself drifting off into a slumber.

(11)

In the initial part of the dream, Zack was certain he had woken up and was sitting up in his bed. But there were a number of things that were off. The whole thing was very lucid. Zack felt like he was not just sitting up, but temporarily out of his body. That, and he couldn't move at all.

A dark form materialized in the corner of the room. It was large and shapeless and moving towards him slowly. Wispy forms coming out of the apparition appeared as if hands, with long fingers reaching out toward him as if an angel of death.

Zack wanted to run, but he couldn't move, no matter what he did. All he could do was stay where he was and feel utter terror.

"_Zaaaaaaacccckkkkk…"_

But just before it got to him, he was suddenly falling, falling into darkness. The rest of the dream made little sense. It was like he was floating against his will in the darkness of nothingness, but he was certainly somewhere. It was like floating in a dark, bluish mist of nothingness. Images were passing by that he didn't understand. But at some point he was back in his hotel room again, once again 'sitting up' in his bed the way he had before.

This time the ghostly boy materialized through the wall and stood before him. Zack tried to ask the boy who he was, though it seemed as if he was asking in a telepathic way rather than communicating by mouth. The boy was trying to respond to him, but it was garbled, as if there wasn't a clear enough connection.

Floating, floating again… but still in the room. He could have sworn the ghostly child was still standing before him, and written on the wall above him were the words: 'Help us!'

(12)

Zack finally woke up for real in a cold sweat, the features of the darkened hotel room, the real one, coming into his view once again.

He rubbed his face. That had been one messed up dream. Zack's clothes were soaked with sweat against his body. Zack stepped out of bed and started peeling his sweat-drenched clothes off. Then he went to the bathroom and got himself a glass of water.

He eyed himself in the mirror, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. Did he look older now? Indeed, his face looked even less the youthful self he could have sworn it had been at the beginning of the year.

Zack, like his brother, had very good genes that made him look a lot younger than he normally was. But it looked now like he'd aged several years. He was catching up to his actual age, it seemed. The stress was making sure of that.

Zack climbed back into bed in his underwear and sat for a while, thinking about how he could use a hard drink or three right about now. Zack was staring straight ahead when his mind suddenly alighted on something.

Zack reached over and took the goggles that were lying next to his bed, switched them on, and put them over his head.

He peered through them, seeing the entire room in a greenish hue, that familiar whirring sound coming from the goggles.

He didn't see anything. No ghostly apparitions. No nothing.

He sighed and took them off. Then he slid down into his bedsheets. He tried to let slumber overtake him again, but it wasn't coming easily. Images of different thoughts danced through his head, things he didn't want to think about right now.

After a few hours, slumber did finally overtake him again, and he slipped into the blackness of sleep once again.

(13)

Zack checked out of the hotel the next morning and rented a car. His intention was to drive straight to Fetch Rock and try the goggles on the cave. If that plan didn't work, he would resume his search through Fetch Rock for more information leading to a possible portal. His primary mission at this point was finding a way home.

The hours passed as Zack drove and drove, arriving to the familiar woods that led to Fetch Rock by late afternoon.

The sky above was clouding over, a thankful relief to the hot summer day.

Zack eventually came to the Fetch Rock fork and took it. The familiar trees overhead largely shaded the sky from view, but Zack could also see through them just barely enough to see that something seemed off. Maybe he was imagining it. It appeared to be the clouds. A few of them appeared to be darker and blacker than the others.

Zack was coming up on Fetch Rock. He knew that just a few more minutes of driving would take him beyond the trees.

He stopped his car to a slow crawl and put it in park. Something felt wrong. He cut the engine and got out.

The air was hot. Very hot. And he smelled burning.

_Something was on fire!_

Zack jogged carefully on foot towards the direction of the town. He was trying not to run too fast. He didn't want to aggravate the healing wound in his side too much. Panting, he came to the exit and could see the town clearly below.

It was just as he had been starting to suspect. Zack could only look on incredulously at the scene below him.

Fetch Rock was on fire.


	19. Inferno

**Dark Fall 2**

**Part II: Conspiracy**

**Chapter 18: Inferno**

Zack looked down in shock at the scene before him. The entire town was burning. Thick smoke darkened the sky above.

But that was not all. Zack could clearly see what appeared to be black figures moving around down below.

Zack realized he had binoculars back in his car. He turned around and jogged back to his car. He could feel a pain coming from his side.

_Careful, Zack._

But the urgency of the situation did not allow him to be as careful as he wanted. He got back to his car, grabbed his travel bag, and pulled out his binoculars as well as the goggles. Then he opened the glove box, took his handgun, turned the safety off, and stuck it in the side of his pants.

Zack jogged back to the forest exit where he could see the town. He raised the binoculars for a good view below.

There were quite a few of them. They were covered head to toe in black with what Zack could only guess must be some type of heat resistant armor. They wore gas masks on their face and they were carrying flamethrowers, torching the whole town. Zack could see some sort of insignia on the left side of their masks, in red.

Zack was quite relieved at this point that he had forced Maddie to leave. Apparently, the cult had come back after all this time to finally torch the town.

Why hadn't they done so earlier? Especially after he'd already looted it by this point?

He pointed his binoculars at the lighthouse. Apparently they hadn't gone that direction yet. He wondered if they were going to destroy the cave.

Zack felt torn. On one hand, he felt he should try to get to the cave while he still had a chance. On the other hand, he knew he wouldn't possible make it out to the island before they did, and they'd probably notice him before he even had a chance.

_Shit! _was all Zack could bring himself to think.

The only thing he could do was force himself to retreat for a while and try to come back later.

He turned around and started jogging back toward the car when he heard a loud explosion coming from the direction it. Zack could see the smoke shooting up from behind the trees.

Zack knew what had happened the moment the explosion had occurred. They were right in front of them. They had gotten the car.

Zack pulled out his handgun, wishing he had thought to bring along more rounds of ammo. There were God knew how many in front of him, and even more behind him in the town.

The two ran out from the behind the curve toward him. He could see the flamethrowers they held in their hands. They had been running fast, but stopped suddenly in front of him.

They clearly hadn't expected to find him waiting for them with a loaded gun.

'_What is it with you people and constantly assuming I haven't cautiously planned ahead?' _was the thought that briefly ran through Zack's head.

Zack fired off four rounds, two in the first guy on the left, and then quickly swiveled the gun toward the guy on the right and unloaded the second two.

Zack was no stranger to using a gun. He'd never actually shot anyone prior to Thaddeus, but he had been a regular at a shooting range back in L.A. He'd taken it up after realizing the need for self-defense knowledge following the near shootout at his L.A. club. Plus, it had also been a good way to blow off steam.

They both went down, the one on the left having been hit in the jugular by a bullet. He went down with blood spraying from his neck.

It briefly occurred to Zack how much different this felt compared to a video game, but he also could hardly think clearly through the sheer numbness he felt. He'd just killed his second and third persons ever.

But he barely had time to think of that. He knew more would be coming. He quickly ducked into the trees on the right of him and ran into the woods.

He didn't know where he was going to go at this point. Survival was the only thing on his mind. He knew, though, that his chances were pretty slim at this point. He didn't have many more bullets in his gun. Probably 11 or 12. And he was out in the middle of nowhere. He had nowhere to run. The woods were thick and vast, the nearest point of human civilizations was hours away, and there were far more of the cult members than him. And even worse, he still had his stab wound which was not fully healed. He felt it throbbing. It hampered him from running as fast as he could under normal circumstances.

He wasn't sure of the point where the next two had come up behind him. All he knew was that he felt hot flames licking behind him.

They were chasing him through the forest with flamethrowers. They were trying to use them as a weapon on him. The flames were igniting the trees all around.

_Are they fucking insane?! _was all Zack could think.

But they had heat resistant suits and masks. Zack didn't. Zack coughed as he tried to run. The smoke was getting to him. Zack's side felt like it was splitting open. He wanted to turn around and shoot the ones right behind him, but he knew the flames of their flamethrowers would get him before he had a chance to raise his gun. But there was also an advantage to the flames; the smoke was going to make it harder for them to see him. So he kept running, trying to play it to his advantage.

He heard machine gun fire coming from his right. Several bullets whizzed by and struck the trees to the left, just barely missing him.

_You've got to be fucking kidding me!_

They were getting serious now. He knew he was not going to survive this. He ducked down low to the ground and veered into the trees. The machine gun guy was coming fast toward him from the right. He wasn't sure where the two behind him were.

Zack knew if he had any chance of getting out of this he was going to have to take the aggressive. He had no choice.

He swore again and started running toward the direction of machine gun guy, staying low to the ground.

_I'm acting just like real a soldier now, baby!_

_But I'm not a soldier. I'm a normal fucking human being!_

He could hear the footsteps coming up on him. The guy didn't know where he was. Zack kept moving steadily and stealthily toward him.

_Underestimate me again, huh? I'll teach you to fucking underestimate me!_

The guy was coming closer. Zack tried to hurry and close in. Too slow and this wouldn't work.

The guy barely had time to react in surprise. He surely hadn't expected Zack to come charging up from behind the bushes in a full out assault. Zack grabbed the guy and put his handgun underneath the guy's chin, discharging it.

As the guy fell over dead, Zack wasted no time relieving him of his AK-47. He quickly grabbed several extra rounds and pocketed them.

_You really are becoming quite the soldier, Zack._

_I'm not a soldier. I'm only doing what I need to survive._

The thoughts ran through his head in a blur. But Zack barely had time to think. He knew the other guys would be closing in fast.

Zack had only used an AK-47 at the shooting range a few times, but he knew enough to know what he was doing.

He could see one of the flamethrower guys coming up through the trees. The guy didn't see Zack. Zack lifted the AK-47 and unleashed a spray of bullets toward the guy.

Zack's mind felt even number now as the bullets tore through the guy and he watched the guy go down. Zack ran through the woods in his direction, trying to stay clear of the flames that were fast spreading through the trees, his head darting around every which way to see if any more were coming for him while trying to keep his eyes peeled for the other flamethrower guy he knew was still in the woods with him.

Suddenly Zack could see him, heading roughly toward the direction of the other downed guy. He seemed somewhat disoriented and confused.

Zack charged, gun raised, taking advantage of the situation.

_This is for my wife, you fucker!_

Zack let loose a spray of bullets into him. The guy went down to the ground in a spray of blood.

Zack lowered his gun, then collapsed onto his knees and started hurling.

_This is not who I am… I'm not a killer!_

_You're surviving, Zack!_

Zack quickly forced himself to get back to his knees. With the way the fire was spreading, he knew if he didn't act fast, he'd be dead soon, and all his fighting for survival would mean nothing. He felt like he could pass out at any moment from the heat. The smoke was getting to his lungs. He realized he should have also relieved the machine gun guy of his gas mask. But he would not be able to go back and try to find his corpse now. There were surely more coming in his direction, and the fire was consuming the forest rapidly.

All Zack could do was turn and run. He was running for the Atlantic Ocean. He reached his hand down and touched his side. He could feel liquid. He lifted his hand.

Blood.

So, the wound had already reopened. But Zack couldn't stop now. He had to get going. He'd think of what to do when he reached the Atlantic.

He suddenly realized his goggles were beeping.

Without thinking twice, he snatched them up, switched them on, and put them over his head. He was now viewing the blazing forest through a greenish hue.

But that was not all.

There was a trail of wispy mist going through the forest. And was there a voice going through his mind right now? One that had just whispered 'Here?' Or had he imagined it?

The vapor trail didn't appear to be part of the fire at all.

So far, what he'd seen through these goggles hadn't steered him wrong before, so he followed the trail without hesitation. He ran for a while. He started to realize the trail was taking him miraculously out of the path of the haphazardly spreading flames and toward the direction of the Atlantic.

He didn't know how much further he could run, though. His side was in sheer pain. He was about to collapse. His body was on the verge of betraying him and giving out altogether.

Then he heard the voice again: 'Here.'

It almost seemed more telepathic than anything else, like the voice was beaming into his mind. It sounded distinctively like either a kid's voice or a female's voice, but he couldn't tell which.

It was suddenly that he realized that the vapor trail had ended, and he was standing in front of a group of trees. A large area of the trees was shimmering just like the wall of the cave that had first brought him here.

Zack didn't need to think twice. He reached out and touched the trees, feeling the luminescence all around him, shimmering, enveloping him. The world around him faded out and he was being pulled backwards.

_**Next:**_

_**Part III – The Past**_

_Author's Note: This chapter brings 'Part II: Conspiracy' of Dark Fall 2 to a close. There is going to be a change in the way the remaining chapters are released. So far, I've been writing one chapter at a time, editing it, then releasing it. This is actually turning out to be much harder for me when it comes to maintaining a particular flow and keeping the story consistent. So from now on, I'm going to focus on 'parts,' and write all chapters for each 'part' straight through, then edit the chapters straight through and release them one a day as I work on the next part. This means there will be a bit of a large time delay in between 'parts' before chapters start popping up again (roughly two or three weeks, though I'm trying really hard not to make it that long). I apologize for the delay, but this will significantly help me in the longrun allow me to write the story with greater speed and consistency. Gomen. I'm trying to make the story the best it can be._


	20. Devil From The Sky

**Dark Fall 2**

**Part III: The Past**

**Chapter 19: Devil from the Sky**

_Author's Note 1: So, I've decided to keep up with posting the chapters as I write them as best I can. I'm back in school so it will be a little more challenging to keep steady with my writing. There certainly may be some periods with significant delays between chapters, but I'm trying to keep steady with my writing as much as I can._

_Author's Note 2: Yes, some of the names are deliberately chosen. Many of them, though, such as 'Fetch Rock' and 'Hadden,' are directly lifted out of the PC adventure game of which this fanfiction is an extremely loose adaption/reimagining of. (My plot is largely original and changes 79% of the original game's concept, following the game's concept/template only very, very loosely) Other names, like 'Archimedes,' are of my own deliberate choosing. I actually didn't realize it until one of my reviewers pointed it out that Hadden is actually a real company. (Goes to show you the amount of research I actually put into this thing.) I was operating under the assumption that Jonathan Boakes had made it up for his 'Dark Fall' video games. This is actually funny to me, considering what I reveal about Hadden in this story later on. I guess it's imperative at this point that I issue a disclaimer: the Hadden in this story is similar but different from the Hadden which exists in real life. If by some coincidental design the real Hadden were to ever become aware of this story (of which I consider highly unlikely), I'd hope they'd forgive me for the extreme liberties taken with the use of their company in this story._

As the feeling of being pulled backward ended and the world faded back in around him, Zack's first thought was that something had gone wrong and the portal hadn't worked as it had been supposed to.

It seemed as if everything was still on fire. But as he got his bearings and looked around, he realized that some things were indeed different. The flames of the inferno were no longer around him. Indeed, the air was much cooler now, and a cool breeze blew across his skin.

Zack could see that he also appeared to be on a cliff of some sort. The area he was in appeared to be rocky and somewhat mountainous. He looked behind him and saw woods behind him. They weren't as extensive as the forest he'd just been in.

Zack's side hurt. He was still disoriented, and something was still very off.

_Why does everything still seem like it's still on fire?_

Indeed, everything around him seemed to be bathed in a fiery red glow, but as Zack looked around him, he could see no source. Then Zack realized it wasn't coming from around him.

Zack glanced up toward the sky. The entire sky was on fire.

He could tell it was nighttime, and the sky outside a particular circular area was dark and clouded overhead, but the clouds inside said circular area were lit up in a brilliant and fiery red glow. There was a sound above, like something was coming, getting louder and louder. As the glow began to get brighter, and the sound increased, Zack realized that something was indeed coming. It was falling from the sky.

The object burst through the clouds suddenly in a brilliant red. Zack had to lift his hand to shield his eyes. The fiery object was headed toward the Earth below rapidly.

_Meteor?_

Zack realized the direction it was falling it was toward was not far from the very spot he was standing. His first inclination was to run, but the object was falling too fast, and his legs were paralyzed with the realization he'd never make it on time.

But he didn't have to. He was standing on top of a cliff, and the rock touched down in the area below the cliff some distance away from where Zack was standing. The area in front of him was lit up in a bright explosion and a loud booming noise, and then the fiery glow steadily decreased, and then there was silence.

Zack dropped to his hands and knees and crawled over to the edge of the cliff. As he peered over, he could see the spot where the object had landed. A bright red glow was shining forth from the impact point, bathing the area around it in red light.

What was off about it was that there was no noticeable fire of any kind, just a red light coming out of the hole and eerie, unearthly silence.

Zack watched for a few minutes, uncertain of what he should do, or if he should do anything at all. Then he suddenly saw the shadows moving below. It had taken him awhile to notice them before, but he saw them now.

He realized that what he was seeing were human beings. Squinting, he could see that they were dressed in a type of native garb. They looked like some sort of primitive tribal people, and there were a lot of them.

They came cautiously out of the woodwork, carefully approaching the object. One man screamed at the others in some sort of language. A few more of them began to pipe up, calling out at each other and continuing to approach the impact site cautiously. They appeared to be organizing. They were clearly afraid of whatever had just landed in their midst, but were also highly curious at the same time, and Zack couldn't blame them.

They were inching closer and closer when a strange, loud buzzing noise emanated from the hole. The red light pulsed out of the hole brighter and brighter, which led to a frenzy among the people below as they tried to back up away from it.

Zack felt like he was hearing something else: was that some sort of voice? It sounded as if there was some voice in the buzzing, something raspy and demonic, and speaking in a language that was not English.

Then there was a feeling of darkness. That was the only way Zack could describe it. It chilled him right to the bone. The valley appeared to be getting darker, as if a dark shadow were moving across it, which was strange because the light from the impact point also seemed to be getting brighter and brighter. How could something be getting brighter and yet darker at the same time?

The people below were yelling and running around in a panic and apparently trying to reorganize. They also were beginning to disappear one by one. Zack heard one native scream, and he continued to watch as natives disappeared one after another in rapid succession. A few people tried to run, but the darkness was spreading across the valley rapidly, and the darkness overtook those trying to run and they disappeared, too.

Then the light and the dark shadow seemed to them quickly pull itself back into the hole. Then the glow returned to its previous state and silence enveloped the valley once again.

Zack simply watched breathless, uncertain of what to do next. One thing was for certain, he was not going to dare approach the impact point himself. Zack watched cautiously for five minutes, not taking his eyes off it the entire time. He was about to get up and retreat into the woods behind him for the time being when something in the rocky valley below drew his eye.

There was a lone figure walking. The figure was walking straight toward the impact point. Zack at first had an impulse to yell out at the figure and tell whoever it was to get the heck out of there, but he also realized he couldn't speak whatever language was spoken in this place among the tribespeople, and it would probably be a bad idea to give out his location at any rate. As Zack strained to see the figure (he was seriously regretting having dropped his binoculars back at Fetch Rock), he suddenly realized it had indeed been a good idea not to call out.

The strange figure was wearing blue robes decorated with a bunch of strange symbols, in yellow. On his face he wore what appeared to be some type of ornate mask in the shape of a demon. It looked familiar to Zack, and as he strained to see it better, he was suddenly certain it was the same gold mask he'd seen in Archimedes Demarion's desk. A cult member? Who was he and why was he here?

The figure approached the very edge of the impact point. Zack watched as the person reached up and took off the demon mask, revealing the face of Archimedes Demarion.

A chill went through Zack's bones. He reached in his pants and pulled out his handgun. Shaking, he held it close to him, ready to point and fire at a moment's notice.

Zack was torn between wanting to shoot Archimedes straight in the back (or head) right here and now, but also with the desire to confront him face to face. Zack still had many questions, questions he needed Archimedes to answer. However, he was wary of approaching Archimedes right now as he stood before the impact point. He still wasn't sure exactly what Archimedes was standing before, but what had happened to the natives was still in his mind's eye.

Zack cursed in his head. He could do nothing more than watch now and wait for the opportune moment.

He realized Archimedes' mouth was moving. Zack could barely make it out from the angle he was viewing from. Archimedes appeared as if he was talking to the thing.

Then Archimedes lifted his hands up, and the red light came out of the impact point and bathed Archimedes in it.

Then, Zack didn't know how to describe exactly what happened. It was as if a circular ripple of some sort shot out of the impact point. Zack felt it pass through the area he was hiding in, felt it pass through him and keep going. It was a very strange feeling, one that he could describe in words. Everything seemed temporarily wavy and distorted when it happened.

Then there was silence.

Zack peaked over the cliff once more. He cursed to himself. Archimedes was no longer there. He had vanished.

The red light was still coming out of the impact point, but its glow was a little dimmer now. But something about the area felt changed. More sinister. Was he imagining it?

The wind was picking up. The trees behind him started swaying violently. The goggles were beeping from Zack's side. He grabbed them and put them on.

When the image came into view, Zack tensed in shock and stumbled backwards. There was a form coming up out of the impact point, as if a type of black smoke were exiting the hole and taking gigantic form above it. It was slowly taking the form of a gigantic demonic being.

Zack was aware that the wind in the area was getting even stronger. The entity was forming what appeared to be a hand. Dark tendrils were slowly forming out of the hand, extending very slowly in his direction, as if they were black fingers. Zack remembered the dream he'd had in the hotel room back in Boston. This was like a much larger version of that.

The goggles started buzzing, as if there was some sort of interference. His heart nearly caught in his voice when the echoing voice spoke into his ear, seeming to come from the equipment itself:

"_WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO BACK!"_

Zack didn't have to be told twice. He jumped up from his location and bolted into the dark woods. He didn't look back to see if the thing was still coming after him. He just ran into the woods. He was running as he had back in Fetch Rock, the night vision aspect of the goggles giving him the ability to see clearly, but he could see no path leading him like before.

_Please… I need help… show me where to go…_

Zack let the thoughts pass through his head. He wasn't even sure who he felt he was talking to. He mumbled the same again, with his lips this time, almost in the form of a prayer.

The goggles crackled and distorted with electronic interference, though only for a second. When the picture righted itself, there was something in it that hadn't been there before. It almost blinded Zack at first. It was like a bright light shining through the forest. Zack realized it was going round and round, just like a lighthouse.

Zack changed his direction and ran pell-mell towards the light. His side was hurting more, and he tried to ignore it. He was trying to pace himself to where he wasn't exerting too much energy but at the same time keeping up a steady speed.

He could see the light circling through the trees. It was hard to tell how far away it was. Zack hoped it wasn't too far.

After a few minutes, he finally burst into a small clearing, and at this point the light seemed to suddenly change. It was now shining up out of the ground, and then it dissipated. Looking down at the ground, Zack could see the familiar luminescence where the light had been.

Zack didn't need to think twice. He jumped onto the spot. He hadn't been prepared for the fact that when his feet touched the spot, it felt like he didn't land at all but instead passed through it. He sank through the ground with the luminescence enveloping him. He descended into darkness, though still surrounded by the light. It felt like he was being pulled rapidly forward yet falling at the same time. He briefly thought it was almost akin to being on a roller coaster. Then Zack suddenly felt his feet touch the ground, and the light surrounding him shot out from him in all directions, and the sky, ground, water, and everything around him began filling in.

Zack collapsed to the ground, panting, trying to get his bearings. He collapsed onto his back and tore the goggles off his head. He vaguely realized he seemed to be on some type of beach somewhere. He could hear the waves just a few feet in front of him lapping at the shore. Zack's eyes were looking straight up into the dark night sky as he panted. He felt he could just collapse here and fall asleep for several days. His side felt like it was on fire. He remembered the wound had come open again when he'd been running in the Fetch Rock forest. He touched his side once more. He could feel the warm liquid that had seeped through his shirt on his side. Yes, it was indeed open, and it was bleeding, but not to a great extent. He couldn't really fathom how he'd survived to this point.

He tilted his head up and could see the top of the Fetch Rock lighthouse looming above. Zack jumped up, wincing in pain as he did so. He looked all around him. He suddenly noticed the inflatable boat on the beach, exactly where he'd left it the last time he'd been here.

_Could it be…?_

By all accounts, it appeared to be exactly as he thought it was. It seemed like he was back on the beach the very night he'd left and gone ten years into the future. He gazed out onto the Atlantic Ocean and strained to see.

_Yes! _He thought he could see the dark outline of his motor boat out there on the water. Unless he was imagining it. He hoped he was not.

A breath of hopeful relief exhaled from his throat. By all accounts, it appeared as if he were back home again.


	21. Return To The Tipton Hotel Once Again

**Dark Fall 2**

**Part III: The Past**

**Chapter 20: Return To The Tipton Hotel Once Again**

_Author's Note: I must sincerely apologize to my readers for the long delay getting this chapter up. Last week was very busy for me, not merely due to school or work, but other issues that came up that sapped up what should have been my writing time. This chapter was almost delayed several more days, because my internet router chose to go out this afternoon, and I was going to have to wait several days for my internet provider to come out and look at it. Thankfully, after spending a few hours playing around with it, I was able to get it working again on my own. I have spent the rest of the evening feverishly editing this chapter to get it out. Also, I've been throwing constant twists and turns since this story began. In the oncoming chapters, things are going to start to be more and more slowly explained. The truth of everything that's going on should (hopefully) start making sense soon. Also, I'm going to try hard to not have any more major delays like this one again. (Though, of course, with the ambiguities of life, it's hard to concretely make that promise, but I will continue to do my best.)_

(1)

Cody sat in his office chair, leg crossed, with his elbow on his leg as he leaned on his hand with a very inquisitive and perplexed look. He wasn't sure what to think at this point of his brother sitting in front of him, weaving what was certainly the wildest and most insane story he'd ever heard in his life, even wilder than the tale Zack had told him prior to their trip to Fetch Rock together.

He was watching Zack's body language very carefully, noting any particular signs of stress and how they manifested themselves. Cody didn't want to have to think what he was thinking, but as Zack's brother as well as a doctor, it was inevitable. _'Post-traumatic stress.'_ He was thinking to himself. _'He really has finally snapped.'_

Indeed, Zack's body language, way of speaking, and demeanor was that of someone who had been through a lot of traumatic emotions recently. Cody didn't think it came from the story Zack was telling. Cody was thinking it very likely didn't happen at all. Cody had fully believed Zack the first time he'd been in his office after they'd had lunch in New York. But after having personally gone to Fetch Rock with Zack and having him sitting in front of him right now telling him the kind of story he was telling him at this moment, well, he was feeling extremely worried for Zack.

Zack arrived at the end of his story and said: "And then, that's when I immediately came here to you."

They sat in silence for a few seconds, Cody still in the same position, unmoving, and Zack looking almost breathless, unshaven, and like he'd aged a few years since Cody had last seen him.

"Do you have any proof?" Cody finally said. "Do you have any of these documents you found at Fetch Rock with you whatsoever?"

"No." Zack said, acting as if he still hadn't caught on that Cody wasn't actually buying a word of what he was saying. "Obviously, I couldn't take all this stuff with me while I was running through the forest. The stuff was in the car before it was torched."

"Hmm." Cody said, still staring at him. "So, to recap everything you just told me, just to make sure I've got it straight, after leaving me the last time we talked, you tried to go back to work as usual, Mark told you about two men tailing you, then you happened to see them yourself frequently in a number of the same places as you, and you went back to the island, the journal suddenly had writing in it again, the cave had mysteriously reappeared, you found a portal inside that took you ten years in the future, everyone in the town ten years in the future had vanished without a trace, you ran into Maddie who apparently went on to become ghost hunter who just happened to be there at the exact time you arrived, you searched the town and found evidence of a demonic cult of which the town's standard religion was just a cover for some unknown purpose, you found evidence that this cult is tied to a wider conspiracy all across the nation, you also found evidence that our childhood Tipton Hotel we grew up in had something to do with all of this and that George Tipton, London's grandfather, had been dabbling in black magic and unleashed something into the hotel in an alternate timeline and I managed to stop it in this alternate timeline thus changing history, and then you were stabbed in an underground temple underneath the Tipton hotel, and three months after recovering, you returned to Fetch Rock where cult members in gas masks were torching the town and chased you through the forest with flamethrowers and Maddie's ghost hunter goggles which you have no recollection of taking with you beeped and led you along a ghostly path to a portal which took you to another time period in some unknown place where a meteor fell from the sky and a red light came out of it and caused a bunch of tribespeople to disappear, and then you saw Archimedes in a demon mask walk up to the meteor and talk to it before vanishing, and then you saw something dark coming out of the meteor and then you ran through the woods until you found another portal back to the future? I've got everything correct so far, right?"

Zack nodded. "Pretty much. I know it sounds absolutely insane when you say it all like that, and I wouldn't have believed any of it myself if I had not personally experienced it." Zack rubbed his hand through his hair and continued fidgeting with his fingers.

Cody nodded. "It does indeed."

"Anyways, I'm at a loss as to where to go next. That's why I figured I'd come to you." Zack said, once again missing the tone in Cody's voice.

"Out of curiosity, you said that the report on the portals you read in the secret area underneath Fetch Rock stated that time flows in such a way so that time passes the same way in both periods on both sides of the portal, right?"

"Right…"

"So, why isn't it three months later and you're back here right now?"

Zack looked like he was somewhat caught off guard.

"Umm… it wasn't the same portal."

"Right. And you just happened to come across a completely different portal that coincidentally took you right back to Fetch Rock on the exact night and hour you had taken the other portal to the future?"

Zack looked struck at the question.

"Now that you think about it, it is kind of odd. I don't know. I just can't explain it."

Zack got up and began pacing around the room.

"It is quite an odd coincidence." Cody said, maintaining the same calm tone in his voice. He opened his desk drawer and began searching for a file. He pulled it out and laid it on his desk. Zack took no notice of him.

"None of this makes any sense whatsoever! I spent three months trying to figure it all out and none of it seems to add up!" Zack said, speaking emphatically with his hands.

"Well, now that you're back, maybe it would be good to just rest for a while. To relax and recuperate." Cody opened the file on his desk and was looking through it.

"I can't relax! How can you tell me to relax?" Zack half-yelled, in a way that nearly made Cody jump. Cody maintained his calm demeanor.

"How am I supposed to relax with all that's going on?" Zack continued. "They tried to kill me more than once! I don't know what happened or changed, but I'm apparently not as important to them anymore as I once thought! I can't just relax and let this go, especially now!"

Cody took a paper out of the file and separated it from the folder. He then grabbed a blank sheet of paper on his desk and began writing on it. "My best advice to you should go under the radar and go to a place where they won't find you as easily. When you've been through as much as you've been through lately, you're only going to drive yourself crazy to the point of not being able to think rationally. If that happens, 'they' win."

"I've had three months to 'relax,' Cody. I'm sick of relaxing! All I want to do is get to the bottom of this already!"

Cody sighed and put his head in his hand.

"Zack…" Cody said. "I'm only saying this as your brother, and because I love you very much…" Cody slid the paper he'd been writing on across the desk to Zack. "This place is not very far from here. I think you would benefit very well from checking in and staying for a while. Despite what the name might imply, it's not a place for just 'crazy' people, and I'm not saying you are. They deal with people who have a whole range of issues, from alcoholism to drug addiction, or, in your case, people who have been through a great deal of overwhelming stress in recent memory. There'd be people there you can talk to, you'll have a chance to shut out the outside world, become more emotionally centered…"

Zack was looking from the address on the paper to Cody like he'd just been slapped.

"You're telling me to check myself in a mental hospital! You're trying to get me to commit myself!"

"Yes, I am, Zack!" Cody said sharply. "You've been under a lot of pressure lately, and I'm really worried it's finally gotten to you! I'm worried you're going to destroy yourself if you keep going on like this!"

"You don't believe me!" Zack said as if it was the most shocking thing in the world.

"Haven't you even remotely considered the possibility this could all be in your head? I mean, think, seriously THINK about all the stuff you've just been telling me. Does any of it sound rational at all whatsoever?" Cody said.

"Goddammit, Cody!" Zack threw his hands up in the air. "I came to you because you're the one who's always believed me! When I came to you ten years in the future, you had no problem believing me! Do you really think I'd do this to myself?"

Zack lifted his shirt and ripped off the band-aid exposing his stab wound. Cody just looked at it wide-eyed.

"Okay, Zack. Maybe I'd just better take you myself." Cody's hands were trembling.

"You really don't believe me!"

"If this has gone as far as you possibly hurting yourself, then as your brother, I can't just sit back and do nothing!"

"I can't believe this!" Zack said angrily.

"And for the record, if you had come to me ten years into the future under the circumstances you'd described, that would be one thing, but you have to understand how this sounds to me in the context of the present. You didn't vanish. Fetch Rock is not abandoned. You've been under a tremendous amount of stress. We were at Fetch Rock together and there was no cave and no writing in the journal and no proof that any of what you said of your visit to the town actually happened other than your testimony alone. Quite frankly, you're starting to scare me."

Zack sighed and lowered his head, a look on his face like Cody was Judas and had just betrayed him for twenty pieces of silver.

"Now, I don't think I can force you to do what you don't want. But I really want you to check into that hospital for a while. I'm afraid if you don't something really bad is going to happen to you. I'm afraid you'd do something to yourself. I wouldn't be able to stand it if something did happen to you. It would be as bad as you losing Maya."

That seemed to strike a cord with him. Zack's face seemed to soften up a bit.

"Something will probably happen to me if I do check in and try to relax. God, Cody, I don't know how to convince you of the truth of what I'm trying to say."

Cody shrugged. "I really don't know what to tell you, either."

Zack pulled something out of his pocket. "In the future, you gave me this disk. It's the same one as I've given you. And…" Zack suddenly seemed to realize something. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

"I have the key!"

Cody looked at him, not getting it.

"The key to George's secret room! In the Tipton Hotel!"

Cody put his head in his hand again.

"Zack, I really don't want to have to go through this all over again."

"Okay, look, if we go to the Tipton and the room is not there, or the key does not work, I'll commit myself for you, how about that!"

Cody looked at him.

"I'll even show you the temple underneath the hotel! I know where it is! If it's not there, I'll commit myself, I promise you!"

It was hard for Cody to argue against that proposal. Truly, he'd felt actually getting Zack to get help would be nearly impossible unless he got other people on his side. Zack's friend, John Tracey, for example. But if Zack was offering a compromise like this, well, then how could he pass it up? He was worried about his brother, and he could see no other solution.

"Alright, Zack." Cody said. "If you truly do hold to your word, I'll come with you to the Tipton. We'll go through this one last time."

"Thank you! That's all I ask!" Zack said with a look of relief.

"I have to point out something, though, Zack." Cody said. "We were all over that hotel when we were kids. We pretty much explored every last nook and cranny. I personally don't remember seeing any indication of any of the stuff you're talking about. Especially no 'code door' in the basement. If it were there, we would have seen it."

"I know it's strange. When I came across the door for George's room in the basement, I felt like I had truly never seen it before. Maybe we just weren't paying attention. It can't have been built after we left. George's diary referenced it."

"I'll give you one chance, Zack, but I do ask that if there's any way we don't see any of this stuff there when we get there, no diaries, no temple, no secret Satanic rooms on the top floor, you'll not go another wild goose chase again. Please, keep to your word and accept therapy."

"Okay." Zack agreed, suddenly looking more worried than before. And he had reason to be. There had been nothing when Cody had gone with him to Fetch Rock. There might be nothing at the Tipton. Zack was surely still cognizant enough to worry about that.

And from Zack's perspective, this particular fear was indeed the case. What _if_ the rooms and the temple weren't there? What if they were mysteriously missing when Cody came with him to the Tipton just like at Fetch Rock?

Zack did let the thought tease his mind at least once, what if Cody turned out to not be wrong at all? Was it possible he actually _was_ going insane?

(2)

One thing that lifted Zack's spirits when he and Cody entered the Boston Tipton Hotel lobby was that Marion Moseby was the manager once again and not Thaddeus. Seeing Moseby in the Tipton lobby brought a welcome feeling of relief and nostalgia to him. For the first time in months, he felt like a shred of sanity had come into his world again. And Moseby seemed just as pleasantly surprised to see them.

"Zack! Cody! So wonderful to see you!" he said as he came up to them, having spotted them a few seconds after they'd entered the lobby.

"You too, Mr. Moseby!" Zack said.

"What's with the 'Mr. Moseby?'" Moseby said. "You're not kids anymore! You can call me Marion if you want."

"Well, I don't know, feels kind of weird, honestly." Cody said.

"Oh, pish-posh. You're adults now. It's stranger to me if you're constantly calling me "mister."

"If you say so mis… err, Marion." Cody said. "Can we just call you 'Moseby?'"

"That would be fine." Moseby said, nodding at the compromise.

"So, have you boys come to visit? I'm very glad to see you're both here with your clothes on." he said, looking at Cody.

"We'd enjoy visiting when you have time. We don't intend to interrupt you right now. Actually, we were wondering if you wouldn't mind if we wandered the hotel a bit. It's honestly a little hard to explain exactly why we're here. We have a few things we want to look up a bit. It's partly tied to our childhood…"

"A nostalgia trip?" Moseby said, a confused look on his face.

"Sort of." Cody explained.

"Well," Moseby said. "Although you guys did live here once and I consider you my friends, I really can't just walking around the whole hotel interfering with the staff's work…"

"We have no intention. In all honesty, all we really need is to check out the basement."

"The basement? Hmm." Moseby said. "Well, if that's _all_, then I suppose that won't be too much of a hassle. What is this related to, exactly?"

"It's hard to say. It's something very personal related to our childhood."

Moseby was acting like he certainly didn't distrust them like he had when they'd been kids, but he was still confused and curious.

"I see. Would you like me to come with you?"

"As I said, it's really personal. I really don't know how we'd be able to explain it to you. I really do apologize for the strange request."

Moseby looked uncertain. But then he shrugged. "Well, I guess I can trust you guys. You guys aren't the same hooligans you were when you were kids. I'm sure you must have your reasons. Just try not to interrupt the staff in their work, okay? I can get in big trouble if corporate finds out I'm letting non-staff just wander around the hotel wherever they want."

"We promise we'll respect your position." Zack reaffirmed him.

"If you guys like, I get off at four. If you're still around, how about having dinner with me and Emma? We can catch up on old times. Especially you, Zack. I've seen your brother recently, but I haven't seen you since you left the S.S. Tipton."

"I'd like that." Zack smiled. "I'm pretty sure we'll still be around."

Moseby looked pleased. Moseby had to get back to work, and Zack and Cody took off to their first destination in their search, the hotel basement.

(3)

Cody's skepticism was somewhat pierced when he and Zack came across the door that Zack claimed was to George's secret photo room as well as the secret keypad not far from the door. Inwardly, Zack was feeling a slight feeling of relief and hope. If Cody was here seeing this with him too, then it felt like he was justified and not completely out of his mind.

"We've been down here a hundred times. I don't remember ever seeing this!" Cody said, looking at the keypad dumbfounded.

"See! What did I tell you? I had the exact same reaction!"

Zack punched in a combination of symbols on the keypad, the door in the corner clicked, and began whirring open.

"You said you looked through those weird goggles you got from Maddie and just 'saw' the combination?"

"It was a type of mist. It moved over each next key as I pressed it."

"Hey, aren't these symbols from the tablecloths in the dining room?" Cody said, just now realizing it.

"That's what I noticed, too! Apparently George must have hidden the code on them."

"But you were able to use the goggles and cheat? By the way, where are those goggles?"

"They're back at your place with my things. I didn't think to bring them."

"And you didn't show them to me in the first place to back up your story?"

Zack smacked himself on the head.

"I was so stressed out and upset I completely forgot I had them on me!"

"Maybe you have them on you now. Didn't you say they always seem to have a strange knack for turning up where you don't expect them?"

Zack searched himself.

"No. I don't have them."

"Must not be going to need them, then." Cody said, actually not saying that with any level of sarcasm. Quite frankly, at the moment, Cody didn't know what to think.

"I'd like to take a look at those goggles when we get back to New York."

"They were created by Hadden, too."

Cody looked at him. Cody was briefly, just briefly, starting to give Zack the benefit of the doubt in his mind, which frightened him a little. Cody wasn't actually sure which possibility frightened him more, that Zack was completely out of his mind, or the possibility that Zack MIGHT NOT be out of his mind.

"Well, let's see what we've got in this room." Cody said.

They entered. It was just as Zack had left it in the future. Cody looked around. He had to admit, Zack certainly hadn't been lying about this room.

Zack walked over to the long table attached to the wall at the end of the room like he knew exactly what he was doing and picked up a crowbar leaning on the wall. With it, he went to a specific section of the floor underneath the desk and started prying a part of the stone up. Cody just watched him incredulously. The stone he was pulling on came up, and Zack reached into the hole and pulled something out.

"You wanted documented proof? Here's proof!" Zack said, holding a book out to him. "This is the second of George's journals!"

Cody took it from him and opened it up. It was then that Zack suddenly felt another pang of fear. What if the book he'd just handed Cody was blank like the diary at Fetch Rock? Cody was looking in the book with a disbelieving look on his face.

But from Cody's end, he was indeed reading George's entries. He was completely stunned. This seemed to add far more credence to the things Zack had been claiming. Cody tried to imagine if Zack could have possibly snapped so much he'd orchestrated all of this. But Cody knew that was impossible. Zack could not have possibly somehow had a new room built right inside the Tipton Hotel just to pull one over him. And what he was reading was not Zack's handwriting.

"I don't know what to think about this." Cody said.

"If this room is here, it means the temple is here, too." Zack said.

Cody closed the book and held onto it. "Show me."

Zack led Cody out of the photo room over to an area of the basement wall somewhere in the middle. "It was right over here, somewhere."

Truthfully, Cody was hoping Zack wouldn't be able to find it at all.

"Aha!" Zack said. Cody watched stunned as Zack pushed hard on an area of the wall and it gave way and started moving. A chill went up Cody's spine when Zack pushed the revolving piece of wall about halfway and the entrance to a corridor of sorts was before them.

"Got your flashlight?" Zack asked. Cody nodded.

They pulled them out and flicked them on. Cody followed Zack down the long passageway. They passed by pillars that were half embedded in the walls. Cody was feeling something in himself that he was trying to push down and rationalize away. There was something strangely familiar about all of this.

When they entered the main chamber, Cody's whole being filled with dread and shock. The moment he and Zack had stepped over the threshold, Cody was absolutely certain, for just a split second, that he knew this place. It was a place he had been before and had never wanted to return.

"This is it." Zack said.

"I know." Cody said. He was shining his light over the walls. He could see pedestals that had once held something.

"There used to be demon statues all around here." Cody said.

"How do you know that?" Zack said. "Do you actually remember?"

"I don't know." Cody said, too stunned to think clearly. "It's largely a strong feeling. I can see them in my mind's eye. As if I'd been here not too long ago."

Cody caught the words coming out of his mouth. By his own admission, he was suddenly lending Zack's crazy story some credence. But then again, what if it _was_ true?

Being down in this place was filling Cody with the strangest feeling. The best way he could describe it was nostalgic dread. This place was all too familiar to him. He felt he'd been here before. Recently. He felt like it had been an extremely unpleasant experience.

What Zack had been saying about him changing history in another timeline wouldn't have actually been too long ago, would it? He was thinking now about himself randomly in the Tipton hotel lobby without a shirt several months ago, with no memory of what had just transpired to cause him to be in that position.

"It was over there that Thaddeus stabbed me." Zack said, indicating the location on the floor.

"There used to be a hole there." Cody said, then suddenly caught himself. He hadn't even realized what he'd been saying. "I mean, uh… I don't know why I said that." Cody said, flushing.

"According to Archimedes' report, this was the spot where the 'mega-hole' was."

Of course. Zack had mentioned that. Cody would have known this was where the hole had allegedly been, since Zack had told him that yesterday in his office at home. He must have said it because he remembered Zack saying it. He tried to tell himself this. But at the same time, when he had said it, it had been different than a mere memory of something Zack had said. Cody had said it with it firmly in his mind, at that very moment, as if it was something that he not just remembered, but knew.

"I want to see that other room." Cody said.

"Are you starting to believe me, now?" Zack asked.

"I don't know." Cody said.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You look a little unnerved."

"I don't know what to think about any of this. That this was underneath the home we grew up in for three whole years of our lives. That we poked all around this hotel as kids and never came across this, ever. That none of the hotel staff, not even Arwin, seems to have known about this place. And that photo room, and that code lock…" Cody turned to him. "Zack, we've been down here a million times. I never once saw that door or code-pad, ever."

"I never did either." Zack said. "I can't help but wonder. When you came to Fetch Rock with me, the journal in the lighthouse was blank, and the entrance to the cave was not there. But they _were_ there when I went back alone. Could it be that something was preventing us from seeing them? Something messing with our minds?"

"I don't know." Cody said. He leaned on his arm against the wall he was facing. "I'm a rational person. Always have been. None of this makes any sense. I feel like…"

"…like you've entered some strange dreamworld that looks like reality, only turned upside down?" Zack suggested.

"Yeah."

"That's been my life for the last three months."

"It's just very hard to swallow."

"I still barely believe it myself. And I've been going through it."

"I want to see the other room."

(4)

Zack and Cody left the temple and the basement, hiding the entrance to the temple once more. They took the nearest elevator to the top floor and entered the stairwell.

"I'd tried to get in here several times when I was a kid." Zack said. "I never could pick the lock. And I was good at picking locks."

Cody knew he was. He remembered it all too well.

Zack turned the key with a click.

"We'll need our flashlights. There's no light source in here."

"No light source?" Cody said.

"I have to warn you, this is even more disturbing than the temple under the hotel."

"If what you told me about it turns out to be true, I have little reason to doubt it."

Zack pushed open the door and shined his flashlight inside. Cody followed suit.

Cody felt the same type of dread on him as from entering the temple when he entered this room. He walked in, unsurprised at what he saw before him. The strange wave of pseudo-nostalgia washed over him again. This place seemed familiar. He didn't like it. Even the gigantic pentagram on the wall sent feelings over him he wanted to push down and lock away.

"London's grandfather built this?" Cody asked, swallowing a lump in his throat, knowing full well in his head the answer was an affirmative.

"Well, if you want the answer to that question, you can read all about it in his first diary." Zack said, reaching over to the table in front of the altar and producing a small book similar to the one found in the photo room.

"My second form of documented proof!" Zack said, handing it to Cody.

Cody held the book in his (trembling) hand and cracked it open, shining his flashlight down on it.

_!I've read this before!_

Cody, of course, didn't remember so much what was written on the pages. But each page he flipped through had a nostalgic feeling to it.

"Here, I want to show you something." Zack said, taking the book and flipping it to a certain section. "Look, this passage here, the weird family and the kid named 'Archimedes.' What I was wondering is, could this be the same Archimedes of Fetch Rock?"

Cody looked at it. "That is an interesting question." He thought to himself. "The only way to know would be to go to the town George Tipton grew up in and ask around. If the family's surname turns out to have been 'Demarion,' it would fit too perfectly."

"According to the diary, George grew up in Kettlepod, Kansas."

"That's not far from where Bailey grew up." Cody observed.

"I think I've found my next destination to continue my search."

"Christ, Zack. It's still hard to believe the wild story you told me in my office back in New York. But I have a hard time believing you'd be capable of fabricating something like this, even for a prank."

"Tell me about it. I feel like I've entered a strange nightmare world in the last few months I just wish would end."

"So we're going to Kettlepod, next?"

"No. I'm going to Kettlepod. You're going back home to your family. I'm only showing you this so you won't think I'm crazy."

"Jeez, Zack! I'm not letting you do this alone!"

"I've already told you! You have a family to protect." Zack raised his voice at him.

"I can't just let this go, Zack! This was my childhood home, too!"

"The cult is presently not after you. I've read that much in their files. They're only after me. I know they're not stupid, and I know they know I'm showing you all these things. I'm already afraid they might try to do something to you."

"You show up at my home, tell me this wild story, and show me all this stuff verifying you're possibly_ not_ completely off your rocker, and then I'm just supposed to sit and let you handle on it all on your own? You're not Superman, Zack. And I'm still your brother!"

"All I want is your moral support." Zack said.

"We've been through a lot more together than just giving each other moral support!" Cody said, grabbing Zack and making him face him.

"And I've already had to go through the grief of losing a wife! I don't want Bailey to have to go through the grief of losing a husband, and I don't want your kids to have to go through the grief of losing a father! Because I know what that feels like, and it's the most terrible feeling in the world! I would love to have you along with me, Cody! I'd really prefer it! It would make me feel much better with you at my side. But I think of what I might be depriving Bailey and your kids of, and I just can't do that. Also, I've already had to lose my wife. I am also scared, for myself, of the possibility of losing a brother as well. That would make what I'm going through all the much harder. And I'm scared that's going to happen anyway. And it even scares me more… that they might target _your _wife and kids. I'm already having to deal with the fear of that and the grief that I've brought you in on this."

Cody had his head down. What Zack had said actually scared him. Cody didn't want to believe it was possible… he suddenly strongly wanted to return to New York straight away.

"My God, what have I done?" Zack said, grabbing his head. "Why did I even bring you in on this? It's true, I really didn't want to have to go through something like this alone. I shouldn't have come to you. But I did. Now I've probably gotten your whole family in trouble. I'm a terrible person!" Zack was trembling as if he was about to have a severe breakdown right there.

"You're not a terrible person, Zack." Cody said.

"Yes I am!"

"If I really changed history in the past, then I'm probably already well on their radar. They haven't done anything to me yet. If they're going to do something, I suspect it's going to happen regardless." Cody said. He put his hand on Zack's shoulder. "We are already bound to this, bound to each other. There's no escaping it. Maybe it's destiny."

Zack looked at him.

"I don't fucking know, man." he said, withdrawing away from Cody. "I just don't know about anything anymore. I don't know what to think. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe I ought to commit myself just for fuck's sake."

"If you're crazy, I'm starting to suspect it may be catching." Cody said, looking around the room. "I don't suppose we bring Moseby up with us and see if he can see these rooms, too?"

Zack laughed, though not in a humorous way. "I'd rather keep him out of our delusion. He really has nothing to do with any of this."

"Just answer me this one question." Cody said. "Are you planning on seeing this through to the end?"

Cody heard a *click*, and there was a flicker of light in the room. Zack was lighting up a cigarette.

"I don't think this is going to exactly go away and leave me alone unless I do."

"I at least then want to help out in some way." Cody said. "I want you to keep in touch and come to me if you need anything. If anything else, I can reference things for you and provide backup while you are out searching."

"Okay." Zack said. "You can do that. Also, I want you to do something else for me."

"What's that?"

"Take some time off from work. A month, maybe more, until this blows over or otherwise. Stay home. Buy some guns. Spend time with your family. Keep them safe."

"If this conspiracy really stretches across this nation like you said it does, do you really think it will make any difference?"

"Somehow I survived them. I don't know how, I _really _don't know how, but I have so far. Although for some reason, they haven't come after me nearly as aggressively as I'd have expected them to. Although I don't think they're merely toying with me, either. The ones in Fetch Rock were definitely intent on killing me. Thaddeus was definitely intent on killing me."

Cody walked around the room some more, examining everything closely. He came across the basin Zack mentioned looking in. "Did I really change history here once…?" Cody asked, not believing he was really even asking the question.

"I don't know, bro. But it fits, doesn't it? Archimedes certainly seems to think so." Zack took a drag on the cigarette and blew a puff of smoke from his mouth.

Cody nodded. This would bug him for years to come, he was certain of it. He would certainly never think of his childhood home the same way ever again.

(5)

Zack and Cody had dinner with Moseby and Emma. Catching up with them was soothing to Zack's spirit. Once again, if only for a brief moment, it felt like sanity had temporarily entered into his world again. For this brief moment, he was not in the nightmare. For this one time, the normal world had returned and shut the bizarre, topsy-turvy world out.

(6)

But it inevitably came that Zack and Cody had to return to New York and once again Zack was in the nightmare all over again.

But he was not going to give up his search. And now he had support.


	22. Preparations

**Dark Fall II**

**Part III: The Past**

**Chapter 21: Preparations**

Back at his home in New York, Cody turned the electronic goggles over and over again in his hands.

He'd had the same strange type of nostalgic feelings when he'd first started examining them ten minutes ago as he'd had back at the hotel, and then once again when he'd actually slipped them over his head and began playing around with the functions. He hadn't seen anything strange or paranormal through them in the slightest, but that hadn't stopped the strange feelings going through him. Like, for example, the stuff he'd _expected_ to see upon first putting them on. Writing on the walls? Where had he gotten that idea?

And now Cody was sitting at his desk, turning the goggles over in his hands, deep in thought, as Zack sat in the chair in front of his desk.

"I wonder what time really is?" Cody mused. "What does it really mean to be in the past? The present? The future? Are we right now in a past that is not really real? Or in an alternate future that will never be? Do we only think that we are in the present? Or are we in all three simultaneously? What does it mean to be in a timeline that no longer exists or might no longer exist in the future? Are we both existing and not existing simultaneously all at once? Do we exist and not exist at the same time within many parallel universes, or is there really only one that is truly real where we actually exist? Or are we actually in one of the others, while we here right now are only suffering a delusion of existence in this one and don't really exist at all?"

"I don't like to think about stuff like that. It hurts my head too much." Zack said.

Cody continued: "Suppose there is a timeline, with past, present, and future: One person comes along and changes one thing. The future is changed, and maybe the actions in the future even go as far as to change the past. A new timeline comes into existence. The one we once lived in is suddenly no longer real at all. With every choice that we make, a new future branches off from the present. Thousands, perhaps billions of potential futures will now never be. But then you factor into the equation all of us billions of humans making choices every day that are constantly affecting everything and everyone else, nonstop without end, and that's an unfathomable number of possible futures that change or cease to exist. And if someone changes something that changes both the future and the past, and the timeline we happened to once exist in becomes deleted, then does that mean that we never really existed in it at all? Do we even exist in this one now? Or is this one that will cease to exist at some point. Are we only imagining that we exist right now?"

Zack scratched his ear. "I just said I'm no good with this kind of stuff, but what you're saying is making me think of some of the more confusing things Archimedes wrote about in his writings. He talked as if your changing history was part of his plan, and as if he was at least attempting to control a lot of things in a similar way. I wonder, what if Archimedes has actually found a way to see all possible futures and all possible timelines? What if Fetch Rock, the Prophet, the Harbinger, the meteor, and Malakai, all have something to do with this? What if there was some way Archimedes can actually see every possible future, the outcome of every possible choice, and is deliberately orchestrating every last minor detail to push the timeline we are in toward a specific future? What if by 'Harbinger' he's using me for that? What if that's the reason things don't seem to add up? What if every last thing I do, every last piece of information I come across that he allows me to, even certain members of the cult being sent to try to kill me, is all to bring these possible future points into existence to send the timeline toward a specific future? What if that's what this is all about?"

Zack wasn't sure if he was right. What he'd just stated seemed absurd. But then again, hadn't the things he'd been experiencing thus far been quite absurd? There were only two options by this point: either he had gone completely insane over the last few months, or he had not gone insane and was now going to have to start considering all possibilities beyond what might be considered the normally rational. But in choosing to entertain the latter option, if only for shits and giggles and nothing else, suddenly, in light of that possibility, wouldn't such an explanation start making things make a lot more sense? Could it possibly be that he was actually close to dead-on?

Cody just looked at him, sighed, and then leaned back in his chair.

"If there's any chance that what you just said is true, then it means you're fighting a losing war. We're fighting a losing war."

"Maybe not." Zack said.

"How?" Cody said. "If Archimedes is somehow doing what you just said he might be doing, then it means there's no way to actually stop him. In such a hypothetical situation, he'd be able to actualize every possibility into a specific future that no one, not even us, especially not us, will be able to stop."

Zack was silent for a few moments. Then he brought himself to ask: "Even to the point of being able to control every individual action of free will that might completely change all the scenarios at hand and spawn new scenarios out of potential thousands?"

"That would depend on how much 'omniscience' the method he's using allows him to have. That's an unknown variable. Especially since with what you've told me, it seems as if some sort of extraterrestrial entity is involved."

"You sound as if you fully believe me now." Zack said.

Cody sighed. "I really don't know what to think."

"And also," Zack said. "Suppose he really does have a high level of omniscience and can do exactly what we think he's doing. What about God?"

Cody just looked at him, surprised at the statement.

"Well… I don't know." Cody said. "I suppose if there is one, it might be possible."

"These days, I'm starting to suspect there might be." Zack said. "It's hard to explain. I mean, I've never been one hundred percent sure. But…" he shrugged.

"I'm not opposed to the idea of God." Cody said. "Though, I've never really seen concrete proof or evidence. But then again, just a few days ago, I didn't believe that a word of what you were telling me here could possibly be true either. So I don't know. I guess we already have time travel and parallel universes and demons and aliens and weird cults. Why not God? Sure, let's throw him in there. I really don't know. All of this is quite insane to begin with. If everything you've told me happens to be true, then I just really don't know what to believe anymore."

"Something's guiding me." Zack said. "I'm not sure what, but I'm pretty sure it's not malevolent. Somehow I had these goggles on me right when I needed them. Somehow I was led right where I needed to be to escape the forest and find the portal. I actually did… pray… a few times. One was during the last time I visited you here in the present. The other time was when Thaddeus was about to kill me. The first time I did I felt a strange feeling, that like no matter what, everything was going to turn out all right, exactly as it needs to be. The second time I suddenly realized I still had my gun on me. In the shock of being overtaken and being stabbed, I had completely forgotten."

Cody thought to himself. "Well, if your hypothesis is true, you probably survived the second time because Archimedes wanted you to. He knew you would survive."

"I don't know about that." Zack said.

"Sorry. I'm just playing devil's advocate. It's my nature to question everything." Cody said, still staring off deep in thought. "Well, at any rate, I guess I do hope your hypothesis that God exists turns out to be true. Because if you're right about Archimedes, then we really can't win this war just by ourselves."

"What I said was just speculation." Zack clarified.

"And I'm taking you seriously for arguments sake." Cody said.

Zack nodded, lost in thought himself.

Cody spoke up again: "Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that I did some checking this morning on our friend Archimedes. According to the official records of the United States government, it seems that there is actually no person registered in the U.S. with the name Archimedes Demarion whatsoever."

"How did you find that out?"

"I used an official program that checked his name against all registered names in the U.S."

"You actually have something like that on your computer?"

"I'm not really supposed to. But I do. So, yes. If there is a person named Archimedes Demarion registered anywhere in the world, it's not in this country."

Zack leaned back in his chair. "If I go to Kettlepod and find someone who remembers him and that family, though, like George did, and the surname checks out, then it will be even more interesting." Zack said.

"It would be curious." Cody said, pushing the goggles across the desk to Zack. "Perhaps you'll be needing these again."

Zack took them. "You going to be okay, bro?"

"I don't know." Cody said, with a tired tone. "My head is spinning right now. I still worry that perhaps you're delusional and it's something catching. Maybe there's some type of new brain disease going around and we're actually on the verge of the end of civilization as we know it."

"Even so, though, don't we owe it to ourselves to see the delusion through to the very end?" Zack said.

"That is exactly the sort of thing you'd say in just such a scenario, isn't it?"

"It's my nature." Zack said, almost grinning, but then quickly turned serious again. "I still have that feeling. That no matter what, everything's going to turn out alright in the end."

"Including Maya?" Cody said, then instantly regretted saying it. He'd kind of shot it out of his mouth without thinking.

Zack looked down. Cody felt instantly bad.

Zack spoke softly: "Maybe this is just the way things have to be. I don't really know. Truthfully, I keep hoping if something's happened to her, maybe I can find a portal into the past somewhere. Maybe even if she was killed, it's possible she can still be saved. Maybe this is only another possible timeline after all. I've been thinking about that. It gives me hope. As bad as everything's gotten, it still gives me hope. That's why I'm still going forward at this point, I think. I can't give up that hope until I'm absolutely proven wrong. Hope is the only thing I have left. And perhaps a little bit of faith."

"I'm sorry, bro. I didn't mean to bring that up. I don't know why I did." Cody said apologetically.

Zack shrugged, still looking down. "Don't worry about it."

"But I do. I really shouldn't have brought that up." Cody said, shaking his head.

"Well, when it comes down to it, I meant what I said." Zack said solemnly.

Cody nodded and leaned back in his chair. Awkward silence descended over the room for several seconds. Finally, Cody said: "I hope you're right, bro. I really do."


	23. Archimedes' Dark Past

**Dark Fall II**

**Part III: The Past**

**Chapter 22: Archimedes' Dark Past**

One thing that Zack noted in particular as he drove his white rental car into the very small town that was Kettlepod was that it was rather welcoming to be driving into a "normal" small town that was sure to not be deranged in the manner of Fetch Rock.

Indeed, as he turned onto the road that led past the 'Welcome to Kettlepod!' sign, the scenery of the place had a familiar, warm feeling of small town charm. Though Zack could never stand to live in a place like this personally, big time city boy that he was and always would be, visiting places like this, on the other hand, was another story. His heart was strangely warmed by all the old buildings and small mom-and-pop shops that made up the tiny town as well as the endless view of farmland that surrounded it. And these places always had the best eating places, to be sure. There was always something about small town country cooking that the highest culinary establishments in the big cities would never be able to pull off despite their best attempts at trying.

And he was pretty certain there would be no extremely religious waitresses in this town fantasizing about stabbing him to bloody death as he tried to eat.

He wasn't hungry at the moment yet, though, since he'd had lunch shortly after getting on the plane to Kansas. His first order of business was to get a motel room, and then he was going to start asking around town. More than once he touched his hip to feel for the concealed handgun at his side. His previous experiences had served to make him quite a bit more paranoid than before.

As Zack had been driving on the way to Kettecorn, he'd thought back to the way he'd fought back at the Fetch Rock forest as he drove. Truly, it was like looking back and seeing a different person entirely. Zack wasn't certain he was comfortable with that person he saw in his mind's eye. He cringed even thinking about it. Looking back, it just didn't seem like him back there, aggressively gunning down crazy cultists, even in a manner of self-defense. He'd always been more of a pacifist, not a fighter. But in extreme situations, even a pacifist, greatly desiring survival above all else, could apparently be pushed to the limit to do things they wouldn't normally do.

An epiphany had hit Zack as he'd been making the drive toward Kettlepod, though: all the people he'd killed had been in the future! And far as Zack now knew, that future was no longer in existence! And if that future was no longer in existence, then it meant that Zack had not actually killed those people at all! It gave him a great bit of relief thinking this way. He couldn't be considered a killer if he hadn't actually done it, even if he HAD done it in a future which no longer existed! Right?

Zack was going to try to not kill any more people during this ordeal. He might fail to follow through on that if things got tight again, but he hoped and prayed he would not be forced to kill again.

It was a short drive through town to come across what Zack was certain was probably the only hotel in town. Well, more like a motel, to be sure. Zack pulled into the parking lot, and paranoidly felt his hip for the comforting lump of the handgun before getting out of his car. It was a short ordeal to get himself a room, and it was nice that the guy at the check-in desk gave him no weird or discomforting looks whatsoever like Mary and Jerry had. Indeed, Zack wasn't sure the guy even looked at his face once. The rather large guy was apparently more absorbed into his magazine than any notion of customer service. He barely took his eyes off his magazine as he shoved the papers and room key across to Zack. After Fetch Rock, Zack didn't really mind. After a few minutes of getting himself settled, Zack headed out to begin his search.

He remembered Bailey once referring to Kettlepod as being a town that 'if you blinked, you'll miss it.' She hadn't been kidding. Bailey's own hometown of Kettlecorn was not far from here. Zack had been there before. This town was very similar. In truth, this town was not that different at all, just smaller, if that was possible. Zack briefly wondered what it must be like to grow up in a town like this all one's life.

The town was so small, Zack didn't even see the need to take his car. The grocery store was only just a short walk away from the motel, so Zack figured he'd take the time to walk, even though it was two o' clock in the afternoon and the sun was blazing overhead. Zack didn't mind it as much. He could handle the heat.

Zack walked into the very small, air-conditioned grocery store. It was the kind of place that existed in short supply in the U.S., a place completely unaffiliated with any big corporate chain. Zack could see that this place sold plenty of brand name stuff, but their produce section put most big chain grocery stores to shame. And of course it did! Much of the stuff in this store, whether fruits or vegetables or milk or eggs, were certainly home grown. Another major difference was that this store also sold animal feed and farming tools in great supply in addition to groceries. The smell of the animal feed mingled with the usual grocery store smells as Zack walked in. Truly, this was a small town supermarket.

One other way of knowing he was in an establishment way out in the sticks was that it took one glance at the movie racks to see that the people here were still stuck on DVDs. No blu-ray or HDTV for these people out here! Some of the bottom racks even had VHS! Those were seen almost nowhere these days. Most kids in the present generation had never even heard of VHS.

Zack did notice one thing that was similar to Fetch Rock: people did still glance at him every now and then. Well, that was to be expected, he guessed. Everyone in these small towns knew each other. He was the outsider, big city boy. He was even _dressed _like a city boy. He stood out like a sore thumb, with not just his clothes, but his demeanor and body language as well.

There were several clerks in this store, and Zack walked up to one of the registers that was not currently occupied with any customers. The guy was a stocky middle aged gentleman with slowly graying hair and a red cap.

The man warmly but reservedly greeted Zack as he walked up: "Good afternoon! How can I help you today?"

"Hey, there. I was wondering if you could give me some information." Zack started. He was going over in his head how he was going to phrase his interrogation of the question for the answers he was looking for. He had already planned a cover for himself, and he was hoping his questions wouldn't stir the people here up to much. He knew how stuff like this could stir up these small town people, and he wasn't talking about Fetch Rock.

Zack continued: "I'm a writer, and I'm visiting from Boston in order to gather information for a book I'm writing about local legends and strange stories. I was pointed to this area as a possible lead," the man squinted his eyes and looked at Zack curiously as he talked, clearly wondering where this was going. "… It seems that in your town there was, a long time ago, a very strange family that lived nearby, and there were lots of rumors about very strange things going on with them, witchcraft and that sort of stuff. They lived somewhere around here a bit out in the sticks and only came into town when they needed to buy goods. I'm wondering if there might be anyone around here who remembers them or could point me to the house where they lived."

The man looked at Zack as if he was uncertain whether or not Zack was trying to pull a fast one on him. He scratched his chin, which was absent a legitimate beard, but still scruffy.

"Hmm. I've lived here all my life, and never heard anything about what you're talking about. When did this supposedly happen?"

Zack wasn't certain of that.

"I don't know, honestly. All I know from my lead was that it's quite possible it was in the 1920s or 30s."

"Gosh, gee, I think there's hardly anyone alive around here who might remember anything from that point!" the man said, laughing.

"If you in any way had any ideas of who might, it would really be a big help to me." Zack said.

Several other people close by were eyeing Zack curiously. Zack failed to notice the very old man, with sharp, bushy eyebrows and a white beard, who he'd seen upon entering the store, who was right now eyeing him closely.

The man Zack was talking to shrugged. "I really don't know. You'd have to keep asking around. I've never heard about anything like that here in my life."

"What about a kid named Jamie who lived in this town around that time and committed suicide?"

Something seemed to light up in the man's eyes. "Hmm." he said. "There's something about that that seems to ring a bell. I may have heard something about that, but it seems quite far back. I really don't remember."

"From what I've researched, he jumped off a high building and left a suicide note to his family claiming he'd given up his soul to Satan. By this point, the family hadn't been seen in the town for several years."

The man looked thoroughly perplexed by this point. "I really don't know. I hope you're not just tryin' to yank my leg, or something!"

"I'm really not, honest. I'm only going by what my source told me. I'm here to investigate and see if any of this stuff is true." Zack assured him.

"Well, I really don't know. You might want to go around and ask all the old timers, the few that are still left, anyways. They'd probably know better than I do."

"Thanks for your help, anyways. I appreciate it." Zack told the man.

Zack excused himself and wondered outside, leaving the man still standing at the register looking uncertain of what to think. Zack pulled out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, lit it, and took a puff.

The man had been right. It had been such a long time ago, good luck to him finding anyone still alive who remembered it. Zack was a little surprised, though. If these things had really happened in this town, they apparently hadn't left a great impression on the townspeople. Or maybe the family hadn't come to town enough for long enough to make that big of an impression. But Jamie's death… Zack was not a small town boy by any means, but didn't that type of stuff get passed down through the generations and become local legend in these small towns?

As if intuitively answering his very question, the voice next to him spoke: "You'll not find many around here who remember Jamie's death, nor would even know the full details of why he killed himself." Zack turned and saw it was the old man from the grocery store with the bushy eyebrows. "The incident was so unsettling, most people tried to shut it out and forget about it. The family tried to cover up what happened. Only very close family and friends knew about the suicide note Jamie left. As far as anyone else knew, it was just another tragic case of adolescent severe depression. But everyone had an inkling. That's what my mother told me. I barely remember Jamie because I was very young at the time. He was my older brother."

Zack was shocked at the statement. The old man took out a cigarette and put it to his mouth. Zack pulled out his lighter and lit it for him. The man had sharp eyebrows and a wispy beard. Zack remembered seeing him in the store. He looked well into his 80s or 90s, but not unhealthy at all for his age. He spoke in a slightly raspy but sharp voice.

"Jamie had always been into some weird stuff, my mom told me. The vague memories I have of him, I can't remember a time when he was not wearing as much black as he could get his hands on. The very notion that his suicide had something to do with devil worship kept the people who didn't know the full details from wanting to ask or even bring it up. Everyone of course remembered that weird family that used to come into town. I remember them vaguely. And that other boy who Jamie was hanging around with shortly before his death, who went on to become something of a celebrity, the sudden strange success that surrounded him, as well as the other weird stuff that started happening around him right after Jamie died, well, I can tell you whispers went on about that, too. But contrary to what you might think, people just didn't want to talk about it."

"You're referring to George Tipton." Zack said.

The man said nothing, just gazed off in the distance.

"The fact that Jamie was friends with George Tipton for a time was mentioned by my source." Zack said.

"George was in high school with my brother while I was still in elementary school." the old man said. "The only memories I have of him are of a type of coldness. Like my brother, but not quite as bad. At least in the beginning. He never seemed happy. That was my general impression of him. He was the kind of person you might not pay much mind to if you didn't know him personally, but you'd feel inclined to avoid him if you ever ran into him. I suppose most people felt the same way about Jamie, but I had to live with him, so I didn't feel that way. But I seem to remember barely speaking to him. As for George, I hear he wasn't always like that. Mom had known his family and attested he'd been the sweetest young boy as a kid. Jamie never seemed to be. Even when he was a kid, he didn't seem to like other people. Kept mostly to himself all the time. But that's not too surprising, given the type of home we grew up in."

"About that family, is there anything about the family that you remember most specifically?" Zack asked.

"I remember they stood out like a sore thumb when they'd come into town, and they wore mostly black all the time. I was very young, but the oddity of them left enough of an impression for me to remember vaguely. There was something about them, walking through town in all black in the middle of summer, in that quiet, solemn, morose manner, that made you look twice and instantly know something wasn't right there. They never smiled. They never looked happy. Their faces had a pale look to them, like those of people who just don't like to come out in the sunlight very often. There was a scariness, an underlying meanness to them that was something you might not experience in social interaction with them, but you'd just be able to tell. I remember seeing them and feeling like they were otherworldly in some way, but having no words at that age with which to express what I was feeling. It felt like there was a strong absence of something. In fact, it sometimes seemed as if reality itself was warping and bending around them as they walked! I know it wasn't just me with an overactive imagination seeing things. Others talked about the same thing, too. So I know I wasn't crazy."

"Absence of what, you think?" Zack asked, curious at that statement.

"Oh, that's easy!" the old man said. "It hit me later on as an adult while I was in church. We were singing hymns, and I was lost in the music. My thoughts randomly wandered back to that family from a long time ago. And I realized something," The man looked Zack in the eye. "What was missing from them, it was an absence of light! Like everything that was good, pure, righteous, was just gone! I was in church that morning experiencing God through the hymns, the sermon, the liturgy… if church is the place of God, these people had a sharp absence of God. That's the best way I can describe it."

"What about the children?" Zack said, veering the conversation toward a direction where he could ask about Archimedes, but at the same as well time infinitely curious about the state of children who'd had to grow up in something like that.

The old man looked away from Zack and his brow seemed to furrow in sadness. "I always have and still do believe children are innocent, no matter what, to a point. Those children had that spirit hovering over them twenty-four hours a day without end. But I don't think it had taken them, yet. They just seemed sad and in despair. I don't know what happened to them. To this day I still think about them sometimes. I really hope they got out of that."

"I wonder, though, growing up in something like that, they'd probably be more likely to take after their parents, wouldn't you think?"

"No." the old man said. "Being raised in a certain background doesn't mean you'll choose to follow that same path. We all have free will. We all choose the paths we want to choose in this life. We also choose at some point whether to become filled with the light or filled with darkness. Those who are enticed down the dark paths have at some point made a conscious decision to follow the darkness. Those who make a decision to follow the light reject the paths of darkness."

"I hope it's really that simple. I'm not so sure these days." Zack said, blowing a puff of smoke.

"It is." the old man said. "God never leaves someone hanging to be absorbed by the darkness, I don't care who you are. That's my belief. No matter where you grow up, you will always be given an option to choose light. I was raised in a very alcohol and abuse-ridden environment. Dad would come home late at night drunk and beat my mom and Jamie and me nearly half to death sometimes. I think it may have had some of an impact on the way Jamie turned out, but it didn't force it. Did I turn out like that? No. Because I saw the destruction that happened in my family as a result of my father's constant drunken states, and I made a conscious choice to resist following the same path at all costs. It was in the darkness of my father's drunken stupors that I saw the light in the midst of it telling me: 'You have a choice. You either follow down this path yourself, as an adult, or you realize that this path is death and instead choose to follow the light. I drink socially sometimes, but I've never become a drunk. I flat out refuse. I knew better than to make the same mistake my dad did and take to drowning my sorrows in the bottle. It may feel like they disappear for the time being, but all that path ends in is death."

"So you think it doesn't matter whether or not someone is influenced by growing up in something like that family?"

All Zack could think about was Archimedes – assuming he was indeed the same Archimedes – and the way he had turned out.

"Our hymns on Sunday morning say 'God is good.' And if 'God is good,' then I just can't believe that." the old man said.

"Some people don't believe in a God that is so good, though." Zack piped in.

"Then they are worshipping a distortion!" the old man countered. "But that doesn't change reality! The light is always seeking even those who aren't looking for Him."

Zack chewed that over in his head. "I think one of those kids grew up to be just like his parents." Zack said. "His name is Archimedes Demarion. Truthfully, I'm hoping to get some information on him most of all."

"Archimedes Demarion…" the old man said. "Come to think of it, the young boy was named Archimedes. I heard his mother use it once. I was so young, but remember thinking what an unusual name it was."

"Do you know if the family's surname was 'Demarion?'"

"In all honestly, I don't know." the old man said. "I'm not sure anyone knew what the family's last name was, since they didn't live in town and barely talked to anyone."

"Do you think there's anyone in town who might remember?"

"Most of the people who'd remember are long dead." the old man said. "But, truthfully, the family was so reclusive there was very little that could be known about them. All we knew of them was their weekly voyages into town to get supplies. They didn't talk to anyone unless they absolutely had to, and no one dared initiate conversation with them."

"How many of them were there?"

"The father, mother, the boy, and his sister."

Something jogged in Zack's memory. "No other brothers?"

"None that we ever saw." the old man said.

Zack's heart sank a little. He remembered reading through Archimedes' stuff in Fetch Rock where Archimedes had mentioned having a brother. Maybe he wasn't the same Archimedes after all?

"There was one other visitor we had in town from time to time." the old man said. "He was a much older man, very odd, and had much of the same spirit about him as that strange family. He was never actually seen with them, so he couldn't be connected directly, but his oddness had a very familiar similarity. As far as the rumors flying about at that time, it was believed he very likely had something to do with them."

"What was he like?"

"My parents and cousins remembered a lot better than I can. He came into town about once a year. He had a particular way of carrying himself. He acted in a manner you might see of someone who imagined himself a king or priest walking around. He was a very friendly sort, but the kind that if you looked into his eyes long enough there'd be just enough of a hint of something underneath to make you extremely wary."

So far, the old man was describing the Archimedes Zack knew in a nutshell.

"Do you know where that house is?"

"Sure." the man said. "Many people don't even know it's there. You take Sugar Creek road out of town, but instead of turning toward the interstate, you turn onto a dirt road leading into a barely visible opening in the woods, and you drive a ways until you come up on it. Just keep driving until you come to it. You can't miss it."

_Just like Fetch Rock. _Zack was thinking. Something flashed through his head about darkness always liking to do things in secret. He wasn't sure where he'd heard that before.

"Have you ever been there?" Zack asked him.

"I snuck off there when I was a teenager. I was one of the very few who knew it was there. We had been warned strictly by our parents to never go there. The family hadn't been seen around in a long time, and Jamie had already committed suicide, but there was no way of telling whether or not the family might still be there or might even return one day if they had really left. But I chanced going up there once, out of morbid curiosity more than anything else. I was thinking of Jamie, who'd been dead for several years by this point. No one doubted he'd gone up to the house at some point. That's one of the reasons for the stern warnings to never go there. But I was curious about what had happened to him up there."

"Did you find anything?" Zack asked, thinking back to George's diary.

"In the end, I didn't have the courage to go in. The moment I took one look at that house for the first time, my breath hitched up in my throat, and my courage left me. Even just looking at it, you knew that the spirit of that house was just bad. There was something evil there. Even if the family was gone, the darkness of whatever had taken place up there had not left with them. They had left their spirit inside the place. I didn't want to go in. I turned back around and ran and never returned."

"I really do appreciate you taking the time to talk to me like this." Zack said, reaching out to shake the old man's hand. "You've been more than helpful."

"It's been my pleasure." the man said, smiling, shaking Zack's hand. "Most of the time I keep this stuff to myself when people come poking around. But you're not the average thrill-seeker or so-called 'ghost hunter' who usually comes around interested in this type of stuff."

"And how do you know that?" Zack said. "I just might be."

"A young, brash, thrill seeking ghost hunter doesn't have the kind of eyes you have." the old man said. "For you, this is personal. I don't think you're even really writing a book."

Zack looked off in the distance, not confirming nor denying the man's statement. But he had been spot-on. The man's age had not diminished his sharpness one whit. Zack hoped he'd still be the way at that age.

"I can also see something else about you, too." the old man said. "It's something I could see from the moment you walked in the store. Most people can't see it. I can. You've got light all around you, in a way that is uncommon in most people. You're being guided. I can tell."

Zack didn't know what to think of that statement. It made him uncomfortable. Zack put out his cigarette in the ash tray next to him.

"I don't really know about that." Zack said. "But you're right, I'm not writing a book, and it is rather personal."

"I hope that whatever it is you're looking for, you'll find it."

"That goes for me too. Didn't catch your name, by the way."

"Ted." the man said.

"I'm Zack."

"It's nice to meet you, Zack."

"Likewise. This conversation was very helpful."

"I hope the rest of your trip is productive, too."

Zack concurred. He thanked the old man, and then headed back to the motel to fetch his rental car. He intended to investigate the house before night fell.

As he got into his car, he opened his travel bag, took the Hadden goggles out, and hooked them to his side.

He checked to make sure the gas level in his car was adequate and then headed out.

(2)

It was roughly 4 PM when Zack pulled up to the house. Like Ted had said, Zack had taken a barely visible dirt road into the woods and had driven for about ten minutes before coming upon the house.

It was hard to pin down the feeling Zack had when the house came into view. His first impression was that it brought to mind the house in the middle of the woods from the Blair Witch Project. It was a gray, two story house that looked quite run down due to decades of neglect. From what Zack could see, some of the windows were busted out, the siding was cracked, and parts of the roof looked like they were caving in.

Zack remembered there had been a house kind of like this in the neighborhood he and Cody had grown up in before living at the Tipton. He'd tricked Cody into going into it with him once, telling him a fake story about a woman who'd once lived in the house who had supposedly been a witch. Then Zack had snuck away from Cody and run through the house banging on the walls and making scary voices to mess with Cody. It had been a funny prank at the time.

But now he was at a house where real witches had once lived and left God-knows-what behind.

Zack parked his car out front. There was no proper driveway. Zack got out of his car and walked up to the front door.

There was a type of coldness to this place. Zack wasn't sure whether or not he was feeling the 'bad spirit' Ted had talked about, or whether he was just imagining it. As creepy as this place was out in the middle of nowhere, he wouldn't put it the latter past himself.

Even the glass on the front door had been busted out. Zack reached for the doorknob and, though rusted, found it turned perfectly. The door opened with a loud creak.

Zack stepped into the foyer and shut the door behind him. A strong, musty smell overtook him. An ornate rug was underneath his feet. The furniture in the foyer was smashed. Zack stepped into the entrance hallway and walked carefully. As Zack took a cautious walk through the house, walking past gray, dilapidated walls and cobwebs, he could see that the furniture appeared to have been thrown around and smashed not just in the foyer, but throughout.

Zack remembered a part of George's journal in which he'd talked about standing in this very house with Jamie as Jamie had read from the Necronomicon and the windows had started blowing in and furniture was flung around on its own.

Zack walked around the entirety of the first floor. It was quite an old house. Nothing jumped out at Zack for the moment as he walked through it and checked out all the rooms. He saw nothing of particular interest, except for one thing that dawned on him as he walked around.

He wondered, had the family really moved out? Why would all their furniture still be here otherwise? Even their closets seemed to have personal items as if they'd been still living here up to the point of disappearing. Although Zack found that the pantry was absent of any food. There was also a very old refrigerator, but it was unplugged. Had they left intending to come back but never returned?

Zack returned to the foyer and took the stairs to the second floor. Zack had to pull out his flashlight because apparently there were not that many windows up here to give light to the second floor. Actually, though the whole house had windows, in an odd way, it seemed almost deliberately designed to not let much light in at all. It was as if the windows had been placed in such a way as to not be directly hit by the sunlight.

At the landing, there was another short set of stairs leading up on Zack's left to a small door, and a hallway with several different doors. The hallway turned at the end and continued on the left. Zack decided to come back to the door on his left later.

Zack could hear every step he took on the wooden floor beneath him as he walked through the second floor hallway. He hoped none of the boards were rotting. He peaked inside a few rooms which turned out to be bedrooms. The first two he looked in appeared to have been for the kids. One thing that struck Zack was how bare the rooms were. They had an eerie feeling of almost having been designed as prison cells. The windows that these rooms had were smaller than average, again seeming as if they'd been deliberately designed to restrict the amount of light allowed in.

Zack turned left and tried the door at the end of the hallway, coming across a much bigger room that was apparently the master bedroom. The bed was still neat and made up as if waiting for the original owners to return and grace it again someday. A vanity desk sat on the right side of the room. Zack opened a closet door and saw that it was filled with clothes. Ted was right. Mostly black. Again, it further added to the mystery. If these people had left, they seemed to have taken nothing with them except for all their food. Every drawer and closet Zack opened still had personal items in it.

Zack noted that the furniture didn't seem to be upturned upstairs as much as it was downstairs.

Returning to the second floor hallway, he tried a door he had skipped, which he'd assumed was another closet. It was, but as he opened the door and shined his light inside, his heart nearly skipped a few beats.

A horrible, grotesque, demonic face greeted him, illuminated by the beam of his flashlight. What it turned out to be was a giant sized painting that covered nearly the entire length of the closet wall. It appeared to be a painting of a larger than life demon that was, on the very bottom, being worshipped by a small group of people in black robes, and on the left, ordinary people were being cast into hell and submitted to horrific tortures by lesser demons. The sky above was divided into blue on the right side of the demon's large head, and red on the left side. The sun was on the left side, and had turned to blood. Stars were raining down from the sky and striking the cities of the Earth below, on the middle-left of the painting. There were cities on the right-middle side, too, and if you peered closely, the inhabitants were looking toward the left, and many were fleeing in terror. On the left hand side, the inhabitants were trying to flee, too, but many of them were being dragged down to hell by demons.

Zack had to shake his head. What kind of minds would want to have something like this commissioned or even want to own it?

Zack shined his light down on the floor and was disturbed to see a small cot on the floor. Had someone been kept in here? Zack shuddered at the thought. It made him think of Stephen King's 'Carrie' and the prayer closet her mother had locked her in and forced her to 'pray' in when she'd transgressed. Was this something like that?

Zack closed the door, utterly disturbed.

He walked down the hallways and headed back for the stairs leading to the single door. He walked up them and tried the door. It opened it without any trouble. It turned out to be the attic, which was rather bare and held nothing of particular interest.

So far, Zack had found nothing particularly useful, other than being highly disturbed by the closet. He had been searching for diaries or papers or anything written by the former owners that might shed light on their purpose or identity.

As Zack came back downstairs, he tried a door he had ignored before on the side of the stairway. He'd presumed this would be the basement, and it turned out he was right.

Aiming his flashlight, he cautiously descended down the steps.

Now, if there was apparently a room which had been designed to capture no light whatsoever, it was this one. The steps descended down quite a ways before Zack's feet finally hit the floor.

He walked into the open area and shined his flashlight around.

The room was indeed windowless. The most prominent feature in the room was the giant stone slab propped up off the ground. He realized there were also candlestands set up around it and that candle holders jutting out of the walls all around. This had been their only source of light down here, apparently.

Zack realized there were symbols drawn randomly on the walls. Satanic symbols, he could only guess. As he looked closer at the stone slab, he could see these symbols covered the stone all over. The stone slab was also stained red. The look of it made him sicker. What had been put on this slab?

Though he was no stranger to this stuff by this point, this place really gave him the creeps, nevertheless. He felt a strong sense of foreboding. He shined his flashlight toward the ground, and saw that there were two circles drawn on a particular spot on the ground with symbols in between them.

The only thought that immediately ran through his head was:

_!THERE IS A HOLE HERE!_

Zack reached up and rubbed his forehead. Now where had that come from?

Zack shined his light around the room in another sweep. He felt such a strong sense of trepidation. He wanted nothing but to get out of here and run, but he knew he needed to search this place a little more carefully. If he looked closely, he might find –

_*Beep* *beep*_

It was the goggles, he realized. They were beeping, indicating they wanted to be used. Zack's hand was shaking a little, he reached down and unclipped them from his belt. With more than a little fear about what they might be about to show him this time around (a portal? a vision? ghosts? demons?), he cautiously slipped them over his head and pressed the 'on' button.

The image came on screen, or tried to, at least. He was viewing the room in night vision, but the image was crackling and distorted, like it was having a hard time coming through. Then it seemed as if there was some kind of echoing noise in his ear. Was that coming from the goggles? The screen flickered, crackled, flickered, and then it flickered in once more, and the ghost boy was standing next to the stone slab. The ghost boy was looking right at him, and then all of a sudden it seemed to _jump right at him _(but it was so fast!) and then the ghost boy's face was suddenly right _in front of him_, but then Zack's head started feeling funny and everything started distorting all around him.

Zack's hands shot up, partially to defend himself, partially because he was trying to rip the goggles off, but it felt like he was falling into nothingness, into a void. His muscles were paralyzing on him, like those types of dreams when you are being chased but no matter how hard you try your muscles just won't work.

It wasn't just the glasses distorting, reality felt like it was distorting around him. Something was taking control of him, and he felt powerless to stop it, though he was struggling with all his might.

_(!LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT THEY DID TO ME!)_

The boy's ghostly, raspy voice seemed to whisper LOUDLY not just into his ear, but straight into his head.

Suddenly, Zack was seeing a whole bunch of confusing and disturbing images all at once. It was like a series of thoughts flashing through his head in rapid succession, random, unstable, but vivid and full of sound and color.

All of what he was seeing was taking place in the house. He was flashing through different rooms of the house as the scenes flashed back and forth. But they were flashing through so quickly he had a hard time making coherent sense of them. But then they started appearing in longer intervals.

In one scene, a tall, pale, skinny, scary looking woman in a black dress was smacking a little boy across the room, screaming at him: "DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE BEEN CHOSEN TO DO! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT THOSE WHO DEFY OUR GOD WILL BE DEALT WITH HARSHLY NOT ONLY IN THIS LIFE, BUT IN THE LIFE TO COME?!" A short-ish man hung off in the background, dressed in black as well, balding, with a brown beard. His look was almost scarier than the woman's. It was their eyes. That was what Zack noticed most prominently about them. The woman continued screaming at the little boy, but Zack could barely make heads or tails of what she was saying.

Another scene flashed by, of someone doing what Zack could guess to be some sort of dark magic ritual as someone was chanting in the background. Then he was suddenly in one of the bedrooms, where one of the kids was screaming to be let out, but the door was locked, and something was in there with them…

Another scene. More black magic, this time being practiced by the woman. Cut to an almost omniscient view of the entire house. Darkness was filling it.

Then another scene appeared, with the whole family gathered in the basement, the father reading from a book, chanting, them all gathered around the magic circle, black shadowy forms slowly manifesting in the room, the boy seeming to notice them but the rest of the family not seeming to notice or care, even the little girl, though she appeared just as upset and terrified as the boy.

_The boy!_

The boy in these scenes was the ghost boy Zack had been seeing.

And now the boy was locked in the dark closet with the giant, scary, demonic image, begging to be let out, and then a scene flashed by where the mother was smacking the girl repeatedly on the back in the living room with a giant stick, yelling something about 'sparing the rod so that the child might not be spoiled.' Then another scene in the living room, the family standing over the young boy (though the girl was huddled in the corner with her head in her knees), and the mother was praying over him and hallowing him as the chosen vessel, and then a scene of the little boy huddled in his bedroom crying (and there was something in there with him), and then a scene in the living room where a strange old man Zack had never seen before was praying over the little boy with his family surrounding him, the boy with nothing but a dead look in his eyes, and then

The scenes stopped. Or seemed to. Zack was standing suddenly in the first floor hall again. Was it over? But then Zack realized it was dark outside. The house was lit up all around by candles. Then he noticed that the house was not dilapidated or torn up like it had been when he'd first walked in. It looked as it must have in the distant past, when someone had still been living here. Everything was incredibly vivid, as if having a dreamlike quality, yet feeling too real to be a dream. A dark sense of foreboding permeated the air. Zack reached up for where his goggles were supposed to be only to find they were not there. They were not at his hip, either. Neither was his handgun, he realized. His breath hitched. Was he still in another vision like back at the hotel?

Zack looked to his left and realized the door to the basement was open.

Zack didn't have a flashlight, but as he looked down, he could see the stone steps descending easily, though it was pitch black.

Not letting himself question it too much, and still trying hard to hold back his fear, he took a deep breath and descended.

There was chanting coming from downstairs. And the occasional screaming. Not an angry kind of screaming. The kind that sounded of religious ecstasy, and sent shivers right up your bones. An unearthly type of screaming. But then Zack noticed there was also another type of screaming as well, the kind you hear from someone very young and absolutely terrified out of their mind.

Zack braced himself for what he was going to see as he walked down the stairs.

In the basement, all the candles in the area were lit, giving the room its most full-fledged eerie effect. The thing that made Zack's stomach lurch the most was the sight of the little girl tied to the altar. Both the mother and father held books in their hands and were chanting out of them and occasionally going into spasms and making incomprehensible noises. The young boy was standing, dressed up very nicely in a suit, looking terrified, like he was too frozen with terror to move. But that didn't stop his screams from echoing over those of his parents or sister.

"I DON'T WANT TO DO IT! I DON'T WANT TO DO IT!" he was screaming over and over again. His parents were ignoring him.

Then the boy did turn and try to run. Zack could see the (shadow people) manifest suddenly around him; they appeared to grab him and flung across the room. The room was getting darker. The shadow people were laughing as they surrounded the boy, and as their shadowy arms descended upon him, his suit started to shred a bit and bloody scratches began appearing on him. He screamed.

His mother seemed to suddenly snap out of her trance for a moment. The shadowy people dissipated as she ran into their midst, pulled the boy to his feet, and slapped him across the face.

"_WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING? YOU ARE THE VESSEL! YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!"_

The boy was crying, which made his mother slap him a few more times.

"_SHUT UP! YOU WILL DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO!"_

"_BUT I DON'T WANT TO! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME! I LOVE YOU MOMMY, PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING!"_

"_IF YOU LOVE ME YOU'LL DO WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO! THIS IS YOUR DESTINY! DO YOU WANT ABADDON TO TORTURE YOU FOR ALL ETERNITY? BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DON'T DO THIS!" _she screamed as she shook him.

The father continued chanting, as if oblivious to what was happening around him. It was an extremely ominous tone and shot chills down Zack's spine.

Then the father's eyes suddenly opened, glazed over, as the woman's eyes suddenly became glazed over, too. "It is time!" he said. "Yes, it is time." the woman concurred, in a somber, monotone voice.

The darkness in the room seemed to be intensifying.

What happened next would be very hard for Zack to recount later on. Mostly because much of what happened at this very moment he would try his hardest from this point on to put it out of his memory and never think upon it again.

He would always remember the basic details; they would stick with him as long as he lived, whether he wanted them to or not. Many of his nightmares in the future would be filled with hints of these images, and as often as these memories tried to return to his mind, in shadow form or not, he would continue to do his best to repress and block them.

The few fragments and snapshots he would basically remember were this:

The mother handing a very ornate, gold and jewel encrusted ceremonial dagger to her son. (Not unlike the one Thaddeus had had, only this one was bigger.)

Words were being spoken, but the trauma of the scene caused him to later be able to remember them not.

The boy was given no choice.

The darkness in the room continued to gather.

The shadow people started to appear again. Zack could hear their laughter reverberating to the room. It shot chills up his spine without end.

The boy stood over his sister, tied and screaming to the altar.

And then…

Zack turned away and tried not to watch as the blade came down, but he realized he had been suddenly frozen in place.

_(!PLEASE! I WANT YOU TO SEE THIS! I NEED YOU TO UNDERSTAND!)_

The voice was speaking into his head again.

But that did not stop Zack from closing his eyes.

It didn't stop Zack from crying.

Every now and then he'd open his eyes and catch just a glimpse.

Somehow he managed to avoid throwing up for the moment.

Then the father was having himself tied to the altar.

Then the boy was standing over him, same thing.

The blade came down.

Then the father was removed and the mother took his place and laid still upon it, in a peaceful manner that was most frightening to look at.

And then it was her turn.

The laughing shadow demons were standing around the boy, he had no choice.

_For the love of God…! _was all that was running through Zack's mind.

_(!THERE WAS NO GOD IN THIS PLACE! THIS IS WHAT WE GREW UP IN! THIS WAS ALL WE KNEW!)_

Zack realized he was suddenly no longer paralyzed. He bolted. Everything felt topsy-turvey around him. His legs were not working like they should. He had trouble making it up the stairs. Then he crashed onto the floor and started crawling, utterly sick, trying desperately to make it out of this house of horrors.

Why wasn't he throwing up? He wondered.

Perhaps it was because he was still trapped in a vision. He wasn't in his 'real' body right now. Or at least he didn't think so. Maybe what he'd seen downstairs had only been a hallucination. Maybe whatever ghosts were left in this place were playing a trick on him. Perhaps it was a demonically induced hallucination.

All he could think in his mind was that he should have never come here.

_Take everything with a grain of salt, Zack… take everything with a grain of salt!_

Then he collapsed on the hallway rug and everything went dark for a bit.

_Was he sleeping? Was he falling?_

He was not sure. All he knew was that he was in a type of blackness, though he wouldn't call it the 'bad kind.' It was like floating through a void of nothingness. Sweet, blissful, nothingness.

…but suddenly he came to, and he was still in the house of horrors, and the young boy (Archimedes?) was coming out of the basement. He looked quite the sight. His black hair was messed up, his suit was torn, and he was covered in blood, still gripping the bloodstained ceremonial dagger.

_(!THAT'S NOT ME! I'M IN THERE! BUT I'M EMPTY! BUT I SOON WON'T BE! I WILL SOON BE GONE BUT I WON'T BE EMPTY ANYMORE!)_

The boy calmly opened the door and walked out into the night. Shakily, Zack stood to his feet. He had no desire to follow the boy. But he had the distinct feeling that until he did, he would not be leaving the vision. Because that's what this was, right? A vision?

Zack was not sure whether the things he was experiencing were things that really happened in the past, or if they were being put into his mind by entities unknown. He considered either a likely possibility.

He slowly lumbered to the door and opened it.

…and then he was suddenly moving through random scenes, all of them of the same theme.

The boy walking down the middle of a crowded street, exactly as he had been upon leaving the house, holding the dagger, his suit still torn, hair disheveled, covered in blood. No one noticed him nor paid him any attention.

He walked into an alley, took a backdoor into a rather fancy shop, and walked through it as a shortcut. Still, no one paid him any attention nor noticed him.

In the next scene he was walking alongside an interstate road. Cars and trucks passed by him, but no one seemed to notice him.

Then it was storming. The boy was walking on and on, but he didn't stop, nor did he seem phased by the weather at all, and yet still people drove by and no one continued to notice him.

Zack realized that in all these scenes that the boy must be walking halfway across the entire nation, not stopping, not being affected by the weather, nor being noticed by another human being not even once.

Zack would soon find out that his theory was correct.

Then the scene changed once more and suddenly the boy was walking on the street of a small town on an incredibly foggy day. Zack recognized the buildings. Should he have been surprised? It was Fetch Rock. But the town seemed to be abandoned. But hadn't it appeared that way when he'd first arrived?

But as soon as the boy reached the center of Main Street, the people started coming out of the buildings and houses, one by one. There was a solemn silence to each of them.

Zack saw no one he recognized. Of course not. This was the distant past.

Another man was walking up the road by himself. Zack recognized him as the man Zack had seen visiting the family's house, praying over the boy.

The boy was standing still in the center of Main Street. The people were forming a circle all around him. The old man came up to the boy, leaned down, and whispered something into his ear. The boy brought the dagger up, plunged it into the man, and started cutting. (_Zack felt numb watching this whole scene. There was very little that could surprise or shock him anymore at this point._) The old man's body spasmed. There was something else Zack caught, it was only very brief, but it was noticeable. It was like a dark shadow immediately left the old man's body and dissipated into the air. The boy tore the man's heart out, turned around, and held it high in the air.

The old man's body was crumpled on the ground, a pool of blood forming around it. The people bowed down around the boy and started worshiping.

Zack remembered something Mark Miller had told him in the Fetch Rock diner and thought: _Your former leader died of a heart attack. Har, har. Very funny, Mark._

But Zack was not feeling amused. He was feeling disgusted, repulsed, angry, and enraged.

This kind of stuff actually happened at Fetch Rock? Was this a part of the "fake" version of the religion as well?

How absolutely twisted that something like this was lifted straight from dark magic and devil worship and attributed to the "will of God!"

Zack thought about Ted's words about people's backgrounds not determining whether or not they choose to follow down the path of light or dark and had to bring himself to wonder how they applied to these people, here?

These people were trapped in this; misled, perhaps, but they followed it unquestionably as the "will of God" even though they were being deceived. Were these people doing it "by choice?" Did they even know what they were doing? Did they even know there was anything else?

It made Zack angrier, confused, and even more tormented than before.

Somewhere in the back of his head, he was saying even more loudly and firmly: _'Even if I have to be the only one fighting this, I will stop you people from ever doing anything like this to innocent people ever again!'_

If there was a God, this place was certainly not the will of God, could not possibly be! Zack wanted nothing more than to tear this place apart brick by brick. He'd die trying, if he had to!

These thoughts were running vaguely through the back of his mind. He noticed that as the boy was holding the old man's heart up, and the people were still worshipping, a shadow was forming around the young boy, entering him, being absorbed into him. The blood on the ground was moving towards him, as if being pulled.

Then everything began getting bright around Zack. He felt like he was being pulled somewhere, and something was departing him. He realized he was finally fading back into reality again, back into the basement of the present day house where he had begun this twisted journey into the past.

Zack quickly ripped the goggles off of his head, crawled over to a corner of the basement on very shaky hands and knees that wanted to give out on him, and finally let loose the sickness in his stomach that had been building up this entire time.

It was then, crawling back to the center of the room, his body finally gave out, and he collapsed.


End file.
